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a. 






Travels in Mexico 



AND 



LIFE AMONG THE MEXICANS. 

BY / 

FREDERICK A. OBER, 

AUTHOR OP 
"CAMPS IN THE CARIBBEES," "YOUNG FOLKS' HISTORY OF MEXICO," ETC. 

I. 

YUCATAN. 

II. 

CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN MEXICO. 

III. 

THE BORDER STATES. 



WITH 190 ILLUSTRATIONS, 

MAINLY FROM THE AUTHOR'S PHOTOGRAPHS AND SKETCHES. 



Dios y Libsrtad. — "God and Liberty." 






BOSTON: 
ESTES AND LAURIAT. 

1884. 



Copyright, 1883, 
By Frederick A. Ober, 



All rights reserved. 



:> 



.•. i 





TO 

STEPHEN SALISBURY, Jr., 

©f WLoxmtex, Massachusetts, 

WHOSE ACQUAINTANCE, BEGUN THROUGH A COMMON INTEREST IN AMERICAN 

ARCHAEOLOGY, HAS RIPENED INTO A FRIENDSHIP, 

TO WHICH THE AUTHOR 

HEREBY GRATEFULLY ACKNOWLEDGES HIS INDEBTEDNESS. 



PREFACE. 



" TT is difficult," wrote an English author of celebrity, "for a person, 
-*- who is desirous to lay before the public an impartial view of the pres- 
ent state of Mexico, to determine exactly at what point to commence 
his undertaking." This difficulty has stared the author in the face ever 
since his first trip to Mexico ; but it has seemed to him that there has 
been an increasing popular demand for a work which, while conducting 
the reader by pleasant paths through the most interesting portions of the 
Republic, should convey at the same time information of lasting value. 

Hence, during the nine months devoted to travel and exploration, and 
the two years and more given to a study of the history and customs of 
the Mexican people, he has ever kept in mind the great popular desire, 
now so decidedly expressed, for a book on Mexico which should relate, 
in plain and simple language, the fascinating story of its history as it 
is interwoven with scenes visited, and should describe the wonderful 
development now taking place through the agency of the millions of 
American capital invested in railway construction and the exploitation 
of mines. At the time of the author's visit to Yucatan and Central and 
Southern Mexico, he devoted more attention to the natural features and 
historic surroundings of his journey than to the material wealth of the 
country ; but the great progressive movement, initiated by the opening 
of the railroads, could not fail to awaken in him an interest in the present 
and future of Mexico, as well as in its past. Returning to the United 
States, his narrative of travel was nearly ready for the press early in 1883, 
but perceiving, as he thought, a greater need of the public for full and 
authoritative statements regarding the resources of Mexico, and descrip- 
tions of the Border region, written from the standpoint of personal 
observation, he laid aside his manuscript for a while and essayed another 
journey southward. By this time the great railroads, which were hardly 
beyond their inception at the period of his first visit, had entered Mexico 
at several points, and he travelled along the entire Mexican boundary 
line, from the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of California, accomplishing a 



viii PREFACE. 

journey by rail of over ten thousand miles, some distance of which was 
through a region not often traversed and but little known. 

It would be impossible for the author even to enumerate, in the short 
space he has assigned himself for this brief prefatory note, the authors 
and friends, in Mexico as well as at home, to whom he is under obli- 
gation. It must suffice to say that to the liberality of his enterprising 
publishers, to the skill of artists and engravers, and of the famous 
house in which the book was printed, to the healthy criticisms of that 
Nestor of proof-readers, Mr. M. T. Bigelow, and especially to the friendly 
counsel and fine artistic taste of his friend, Mr. Fred H. Allen, whose 
patience and encouragement have sustained him through a long and 
somewhat trying ordeal, the author owes his ability to present the work 
in a shape which he trusts the public will appreciate. Except to call 
attention to the fact that he has examined nearly every prominent work 
on Mexico, the author feels that any mention of the various books on the 
subject would be a superfluous labor. It is hoped that the wide scope 
of the present ' book, including as it does nearly every topic of interest, 
— people, customs, historical references, antiquities, and productions, — 
and its carefully prepared and exhaustive index, will make it valuable to 
every person interested, even though remotely, in the progress of Mex- 
ico. To this end the numerous engravings and maps have been pre- 
pared ; and by means of the latter one may trace the extension of our 
vast system of railways towards its ultimate destination, the continent of 
South America. 

If, during the many months intervening between the conception and 
the completion of this volume, the author has wearied of his task, or 
has doubted the wisdom or expediency of it, he has constantly derived 
consolation from the reflection that, in helping to make Mexico better 
known to the world at large, he is but lending his aid to a progressive 
movement, that is not to end until the American — the hitherto hated 
" Gringo " — shall have pushed his engines to the extremest portion of 
that Greater South ; and a trade legitimate and prosperous shall flow in 
those longitudinal channels which require the traversing of no broad 
ocean or tempestuous sea. 

With this hopeful suggestion, that the reader view the " Mexican Move- 
ment " in the same catholic light, the author ventures to add another 
volume to the already large list of works on Mexico. 

Beverly, Massachusetts, January, 1884. 



CONTENTS. 



BOOK I. 

YUCATAN. 
I. 

A GLIMPSE OF YUCATAN. 

From Cuba to Yucatan. — Progreso. — Its one hotel. — Sisal the desolate. — An anti- 
progressive railroad. — The Lagoon. — Henequen. — Indians. — Garbs of centuries 
agone. — The Uipil. — Advent of the steam monster. — Sleepy Cabmen. — 
Moresque architecture. — Caged beauties. — The Plaza. — An ancient dwelling. — 
T'ho, or Merida. — Street of the Elephant. — El Museo Yucateco. — American 
gold at premium. — The " Sabios " of Yucatan. — A hot climate. — Houses that are 
heat and vermin proof. — Catherwood and Stephens. — Summary of settlements . 25 

II. 

YUCATECOS. 

A dip into history. — The first Indians of New Spain. — The captured canoe. — Cacao 
as currency. — The error of Columbus. — First view of Yucatan. — Hernandez de 
Cordova. — Juan de Grijalva. — An intrepid soldier and faithful chronicler. — Mon- 
tejo, conqueror of Yucatan. — The conquest. — The indigenous race. — The Suble- 
vados. — Indians in arms. — The hidden city. — Mestizos. — Servants. — Wages. — 
A primitive mill. — The Metate. — Tortillas and Frijoles. — A rare Consul. — The 
market. — The monastery. — Ancient religion. — The Carnival. — Estudiantes. — 
Caleza and Volante. — The Nunnery. — The Grand Paseo. — A Yucatan salute. — 
Sun worshippers. — Waltzing in higher circles. — Sweet daughters of the South. 
— Polite and polished people. — Lovers' intrigues 39 

III. 

UXMAL, THE RUINED CITY. 

Ruins of Yucatan. — A Volan. — Mules with ears. — Yucatecan hospitality. — The 
Cenote. — An oasis. — " Buenos dias, senores ! " — Subterranean rivers. — Swallows 
and hornets. — The cattle-yard. — Garrapatas. — Honey and turtle steak. — Sylvan 



X CONTENTS. 

bee-hives. — Stingless bees. — Oration. — The Sierra. — The doi'.ble-headed tiger. — 
The pyramid. — The various Casas, del Gobernador, de las Monjas, de las Tortugas, 
de las Palomas, de la Vieja. — The Royal Palace. — A maze of sculpture. — A hang- 
ing garden. — Description baffled. — The House of the Turtles. — The Temple of the 
Vestals. — The Serpent's Court. — Puzzling wealth of hieroglyphics. — The feathered 
serpent. — A reminder of Aztec mythology. ■ — ■ Other ruins ; Kabah and Labna. — 
Comparison of the Central American ruins. — A recently discovered statue. — Theories 
regarding the people who built these cities. — Prejudiced historians. — A week in 
the ruins. — Our Maya guide. — An Aguada. — The king vulture. — The "Maya 
Arch " and "Elephant's Trunk." — Misled antiquarians. — Gnomes and goblins. — 
The Nameless Mound. — The House of Birds. — Night in the Palace. — The 
Bloody Hand 58 

IV. 

A NEW INDUSTRY AND AN OLD MONUMENT. 

Hemp, or Henequen. — The native wealth of Yucatan. — Cultivation and preparation of 
henequen. — Cordage and hammocks. — The cotton and its worm. — On the road. 

— Processions of Indians. — Where hammocks are made. — The coach Carlotta rode 
in. — Ake\ — More ruins. — Cyclopean columns. — Katunes, or epochs, of aboriginal 
history. — Records of a vanquished people. — Who raised them? — House of the 
Priest. — Akabna, or dark house. — The Cenote and its inhabitants. — Lizards and 
iguanas. — The lizard that tortures you by biting your shadow. — The oldest monu- 
ments in America. — Our host, the Conde Peon 82 

V. 
MAYAPAN, THE ANCIENT EMPIRE. 

Mayapan, and Chichen-Itza. — Aboriginal history. — The Maya Genesis. — Xibalba. — 
The Itzaes. — The three invasions of Yucatan. — Mayas, Tutul Xius, Caribs. — 
King Cocom. — The mound at Mayapan. — Dr. Le Plongeon's statue.- — Maya 
astronomy. — Chaldean and Egyptian resemblances. — Antiquity and civilization of 
the Mayas. — Itzamal, the holy city. — The Yucatecan rebellion. — A ravaged 
country. — Mural paintings and sculptures. — The great ruined city. — Chaacmol, 
the Tiger King. — A disappointed discoverer. — A glance at Kabah. — Consul 
Aym6's horse. — The man on horseback. — M. Charnay and his theories. — How 
archaeologists are working. — How they should work 94 

VI. 

A GRAND TURKEY HUNT. 

The ocellated turkey. — John. — Our dreadful driver, and how we managed him. — Motul. 

— Its Cenote. — " Toh," the bird that baffled Noah and survived the flood. — A Rev- 
olutionary General. — An impromptu ball. — An array of beauty. — A reasonable 
request. — A town where English had never been spoken. — The young ladies wish 
to hear it. — They are gratified. — English speech-making to a Spanish audience. — 
An " original " poem. — Timax, an isolated town. — A home-made physician. — 
Another dance. — A dignity ball. — The Musicos. — The Mestiza ball. — Dancing 
against one's will. — " Vaminos." — The turkey-buzzard dance. — The Toro. — A 
change of scene. — The dying Indian woman. — A welcome for death 112 



! 



CONTENTS. x i 

VII. 

IN THE LOGWOOD FORESTS. 

Sleeping spoon-fashion. — A bolt for the coast. — The great mound of Dilam. — Izamal. — 
The start for the rancho. — " Muy temprano." — A Yucateco Refresco. — The lovely 
Aguada. — Rare birds. — The camp. — Logwood cutters. — Dinner-table etiquette. — 
"At your disposal, sir." — A quarrel. — Familiar Maya words. — Weighing the 
logwood, — Palo de Campeche. — Quail, deer, and turkeys. — The Indian with evil 
eyes. — The haunts of adders. — A walk at sunset. — Industrious women. — Toil- 
ing at the mills 126 

VIII. 

NORTH COAST OF YUCATAN. 

Trogons and parrots. — Wild hemp. — Puntas Arenas. — Sea birds by the thousand. — 
The Lagoon. — Spoonbills and flamingoes. — Ibis and heron. — Fish and coco-nuts. — 
Failure. — Cozumel and Isla Mujeres. — First landing of the Spaniards. — Important 
discovery. — The Brasero, or incense burner. — A wilderness of ruins. — Tulum. — 
Rio Lagartos. — A fall. — Puerto de Dilam. — Mangrove forests. — Excessive polite- 
ness. — El Viejo. — Timax again — The Medico and his patients. — The Correo. — 
Motul. — Generous Companeros. — Merida 136 



BOOK II. 

CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN MEXICO. 

IX. 

PALENQUE AND THE PHANTOM CITY. 

Farewell to Yucatan. — Why one should love the Yucatecos. — An honest people. — 
The Alexandre steamers. — Delightful voyaging. — Campeche. — Aboriginal cata- 
combs. — Champoton, or "Mala pelea." — Laguna de Terminos. — Unexplored 
territory. — Frontera. — The River Tabasco, or Grijalva. — San Juan Bautista. — 
Marina, the Tabascan Princess. — Palenque, the vast group of ruins. — The 
" Palenque Cross." — The ancient Xibalba. — Peten and Flores, land of the Itzaes. 
— The deified horse. — Tizimin, the white tapir. — The mysterious city. — An 
aboriginal centre of civilization 155 

X. 
VERA CRUZ AND JALAPA. 

River Coatzcoalcos. — Tehuantepec. — The Inter-oceanic Railroad. — Vera Cruz, a lovely 
city from the sea. — Isla delos Saaificios. — Castle of San Juan de Ulua. — Peak 
of Orizaba. — Mountain of the Star. — The Mole. — Zopilotes, or vultures. — Board 



xii CONTENTS. 

of health. — The Plaza. — Tramways. — Sights often described. — Vomito, or yel- 
low fever. — The customs officials. — Dutiable articles. — Vera Cruz, the great 
Gulf State. — Where Cortes landed. — Jalapa, a refuge from heat and fever. — The 
mule-car. — The great Spanish highway. — Puente Nacional. — Santa Anna's 
hacienda. — Rinconada. — The ubiquitous engineer. — Cerro Gordo, a reminiscsnce 
of the American army. — The hamlet. — Gardens of Jalapa. — The mountain 
views. — Corn and coffee. — The bewitching Jalapeflas. — Jalap. — Vanilla. — 
Down the hills to the hot country 1 73 

XI. 

FROM COAST TO CAPITAL. 

The great Mexican Railway. — The Llanos. — Fire-flies. — Soledad. — Paso del Macho. 

— Chiquihuite. — Bridge of Atoyac. — Barrancas and ravines. — Cordova and the 
coffee district. — A diversion from the track of travel. — Details of coffee culture. — 
Introduction of the cinchona. — The coffee of Liberia, the West Indies, and Mexico. — 
Barranca of Metlac. — The tunnels. — The Valley of Orizaba. — Products of two 
zones. — Coffee and cane, grapes and mangos. — Orizaba, the " Joy of the Water." 

— Encinal. — The gorge of Infernillo. — The cross on the precipice. — La Joya, 
the Jewel. — Maltrata. — The region of pines. — The mountain's mouth. — Eight 
thousand feet above the coast. — Esperanza, the Mexican Hope. — The Great Plateau. 

— San Marcos. — Tlascala. — Huamantla. — Apizaco. — Soltepec, the highest point 
on the line. — Apam, the Pulque District. — The American Maguey. — Haciendas. — 
Otumba. — Valley of Mexico. — At the gates of the capital 194 

XII. 

CITY OF MEXICO. 

Adrift. — Hooper. — A country to suit all complexions. — A friend to the rescue — 
The room on the roof-top. — Robbers. — The Mexican dwelling. — The Patio. — 
The Azotea. — Cortes again. — First entry into Mexico. — Expulsion. — Invest- 
ment. — Capture. — The new city built on the old. — Plaza Mayor. — Aztec Teocalli. 

— The first Cathedral. — The Sagrario. — Recent exhumations. — A magnificent 
temple and its golden treasures. — A relic of Spanish dominion. — Golden lamps 
and statues. — Those days of old. — Descriptions by other writers. — City and subur- 
ban tramways. — In the Cathedral towers. — The Zocalo. — The Flower Market. — 
The National Palace. — Meteorological Observatory — The astronomer's Elysium. — 
A relic of royalty. — The Municipal Palace. — Sombreros and Sarapes. — The 
Alameda. — A view too vast for description. — The wall of mountains. — Lake 
Tezcoco. — Historic hills. — Physical facts confirm old chronicles. — The "enchanted 
city." — The causeways. — Floods. — The birds of the lakes. — The city in danger. 

— The Great Tajo of Nochistongo. — Imperfect drainage. — Filth and malaria . . 22T 

XIII. 

A RAMBLE AROUND THE CITY. 

Population of the City of Mexico. — Latitude and elevation. — Climate. — Seasons. — 
Divisions of time. — The siesta. — A noble chanty, Monte Piedad. — Pawn-shops. 

— Mexican fop and his resources. — The Mineria, or School of Mines. — Mexican 



CONTENTS. xiii 

courtesy. — Calle San Francisco. — Hotel Iturbide. — The Escandon and porcelain 
house. — Convent of San Francisco. — Methodist mission work. — The great library. 

— Book-stalls. — Rare and ancient volumes. — Old houses. — Humboldt's house. — 
The great scientist's work in Mexico. — The Mint, Casa de Moneda. — A coinage 
reckoned by billions. — Amount coined up to 18S3. — An honest dollar. — The 
Palace of the Inquisition. — A savor of heretics. — The hospitals. — Panteon (ceme- 
tery) of San Fernando. — An abode of illustrious men. — The irrepressible conflict. 

— Church of San Hypolito. — Leap of Alvarado. — Aqueduct of San Cosme. — 
American cemetery. — Tacuba and the tree of Noche Triste. — Virgin of Remedios . 244 



XIV. 

THE MEXICANS AT HOME. 

The author's position in regard to the Mexican. — How the 10,000,000 population is 
divided. — Views of Senor Cubas. — The Aborigines, Creoles, Mestizos. — The Indian, 
his peculiarities and costume. — The great number of tribes and languages. — Who 
are the Creoles? — Family life. — Morals. — The Mestiz:s. — Their origin. — Rep- 
resentative Mexicans. — Their dress and characteristics. — The Lepero, a true prole- 
tarian. — The offspring of misery. — On feast-days. — A born thief. — The Empefio. 
— Pawning American garments. — Nothing safe out of doors that one man can 
lift. — How a Lepero pawned a cloak, — and another a church organ. — Their san- 
guinary disposition. — The Mexican race described by various authors. — Their utter 
turpitude. — Their many virtues. — Why they love the French. — Because the 
Frenchman is gushing. — Why they should be shy of foreigners. — Because the 
foreigner is mercenary. — Summary by a distinguished writer : gentle, hospitable, 
benevolent, brave. — To which the author subscribes 271 



XV. 

FEASTS AND FESTIVALS.— MEXICAN MISSIONS. 

The Devil in Mexico, and his methods. — Ancient Gods of the Mexicans. — Religious 
rites. — How the Aztecs were converted. — The sway of the Church. — Its rise and 
fall. — Its lost opportunity. — Beginning of Protestantism. — The Bible in Mexico. 

— First missions. — The first martyr. — Growth of the mission movement. — A mis- 
sion map. — Statistics. — Politics and politicians. — Society. — Customs and court- 
ships. — Policemen. — Serenos, or watchmen. — The gentle Mexicans. — The 
Aguador, or water-carrier. — A picturesque person. — Clandestine meetings. — 
Playing the bear 291 

XVI. 

A DAY IN THE MUSEUMS. 

The Mexican Museum. — Museo Nacional. — Sacrificial Stone. — Chaacmol. — Huitzi- 
lopochtli. — Temple of the War-god. — The Gods of Aztlan. — Pictures of Viceroys. 

— Picture-writing. — A benevolent government. — The foreign archaeologist. — 
Manana. — Founding of the Museum. — Early history. — Its officers and their 
labors. — Annals of the Museum. — Montezuma's Shield. — The Sacrificial Stone. 



xiv CONTENTS. 

— The Calendar Stone, its history and its meaning. — Portrait of Cortes. — Armor 
of Alvarado. — Feather pictures. — Aztec art. — Mexican " rag figures." — Types of 
people. — The Aguador, Cargador, and Carbonero. — Institute of San Carlos. — 
A look through the Academy. — Paintings by old masters. — Velasco's " Valley of 
Mexico." — Parra's " Las Casas." — The " Massacre in the Temple " 305 

XVII. 
THE MARKETS AND FLOATING GARDENS. 

A stride through the markets. — Products of every zone. — The omnipresent baby. — 
Where the flowers are sold, — and where they come from. — A redeeming trait of the 
Aztec character. — Inborn taste for flowers. — Beauty a begging. — Bridge of La 
Viga. — The American Veni:e and its gondoliers. — To the Floating Gardens. — 
Guatemotzin. — Among the Chinampas. — How Floating Gardens are formed. — 
What are grown on them. — A wonderful lake. — A sunken city. — Chalco. — An 
ancient town. — Food-supplying insects. — " Cakes like unto brick-bats." — The 
Axayacatl. — The lizard-frog. — The American Aloe, or Maguey. — Pulque, and 
how it is made. — Aguamiel, or honey-water. — Analysis of pulque. — The princess 
who invented a drink. — The Mexican tipple. — A precursor of cocktails. — Meat 
markets. — Perambulating butcher-shops. — A clamorous crowd. — Universal de- 
pravity of the milkman. — Don Felipe and his cow 327 

XVIII. 

THE GRAND PASEO, CHAPULTEPEC, EL DESIERTO, 
AND GUADALUPE. 

The Alameda. — Statue of Carlos IV. — The Grand Paseo. — A magnificent avenue. — 
Glorietas. — Statues to Columbus, Cortes, Guatemotzin. — A resort of wealth and 
fashion. — The need of Mexico. — No American hotel. — The future American 
quarter. — The new City of Mexico. — The ancient quarries. — Marble baths. — 
Maximilian's scheme. — Chapultepec. — The Castle. — Molino del Rey. — Monte- 
zuma, his cypress, his harem, and his bath. — The Aqueducts. — Ancient rock 
carvings. — The battles of '47. — Dolores. — Tacubaya. — San Angel. — The gam- 
bling centre. — Shepherds and cut-throats. — The Carmelite Convent. — Chartering 
a diligence. — The Meson. — The man with No hay. — " Trot out your donkeys." 

— A sad procession. — The Monks' Paradise. — Pearls, crowns, and golden chains. 

— Balaam and his Burro. — The donkey brigade. — The Shrine and Virgin of 
Guadalupe. — The stone ship 340 

XIX. 

POPOCATAPETL. 

The two huge peaks. — An active volcano. — The Smoking Mountain. — A comparison. 

— Volcano of Jorullo. — The Morelos Railroad. — San Lazaro. — Amecameca. — 
Iztaccihuatl. — The dead giantess. — A holy hill. — Sacro Monte. — An ascent of 
Popocatapetl. — Warnings. — In disguise. — A Volcanero. — A practised phleboto- 
mist. — Ten thousand feet up. — " Are you armed ? " — The black crosses. — Pious 
murderers. — The dark forest. — Lost. — Cuidado ! — Coyotes and Pumas. — At 
last! — Don Domingo. — Rancho of Tlamacas. — Sulphur and ice. — Pico del 
Fraile. — Disheartening stories. — Baffled tourists. — A deep Barranca. — Shifting 



% 



CONTENTS. 



XV 



sands. — La Cruz. — Limit of vegetation. — A sublime spectacle. — The White 
Woman. — Description by Cortes. — Valley of Mexico. — Orizaba. — At the snow 
line. — Enveloped in fog. — Climbing the cone. — Above the clouds. — Advice. 
— My " guides." — Value of coca. — The Crater. — The God of Storms.— 
Eighteen thousand feet above the sea.— The finding of sulphur. — Scientific inves- 
tigation. — Minute description of the crater. — Sulfataras. — Sulphur vents. — A 
storm in the upper regions. — Photographing against odds. — Battle-field of the 
elements. — A test of endurance. — The slide down the cone. — A misstep. — The 
field of ashes. — Sunset. — Popocatapetl compared with other high mountains . . . 



37* 



XX. 

A JOURNEY IN A DILIGENCE. 

The Mexican Diligence. — American battle-fields. — Churubusco and the Pedregal. — 
Cruz del Marques. — Cuernavaca, home of Cortes. — Mexican missionaries. — The 
vast Barrancas. — Scenes of past fights. — Palace of Cortes. — Gardens of Laborde. 

— Artificial lakes. — Hunting in a plantain grove. — Sugar and coffee. — El Castillo. 

— Ruins of Xochicalco. — The Caverns. — Strange sculptured forms. — Cacahua- 
milpa. — A Mexican Mammoth Cave. — The saloon of the dead. — A subterranean 
wonder. — Gardens of Maximilian. — Staging it by torchlight 396 

XXI. 
THE MEXICAN RAILWAY MOVEMENT. 

A chapter to read or skip. — Explanation of Map. — History of the great railway move- 
ment. — List of Concessions granted up to 1884, with subsidies, length, and obliga- 
tions. — Territory traversed by the railways. — The Mexican Railway. — The 
" Central," the railway back-bone of the Mexican Plateau. — Its charter and obliga- 
tions. — Cities on its line. — Topography and resources of region penetrated. — A 
Mexican's estimate of its agricultural and mineral wealth. — The initial movement. — 
Rapid progress, northward and southward. — Crossing the Rio Grande. — Exit from 
the Valley of Mexico. — Enthusiastic receptions. — Triumphant advance. — Track 
completed and road-bed graded. — The " Mexican National." — Short line to Texas 
and New Orleans. — Subsidy of #7,000 per kilometre. — Cities tributary to this line. — 
Triumph over difficulties. — An adventure with a pay train. — #30,000 in silver. — 
Length of line completed. — A rival of the Burro. — Morelos Railroad. — The Trans- 
continental Route. — Grand banquet. — A terrible accident. — Difference between 
rainy and dry season. — Railway building, Mexican and American methods con- 
trasted. — At the wrong end. — General summary. — Will these roads pay ? — The 
bands that bind our sister 416 

XXII. 
A RIDE THROUGH A MINING REGION. 

" Mucho polvo." — The face of nature dusted. — " Si, Senor." — An involuntary clay-eater. — 
Pachuca. — Senor Medina, discoverer of the Patio Process. — The Anglo-Spanish 
mining fever. — Mines in Bonanza. — #90,000 per share. — #4,000,000 in four years. 

— San Rosario mine. — #100,000,000 from a single mine. — The castle of the silver 
king. — A mine three hundred years old. — How miners steal the ore. — Abandoned 
mines. — Those silver hills. — Millions and billions. — The mining laws of Mexico. 

— Their impartial and just workings. — Mining terms. — Requirements for denoun- 




xvi CONTENTS. 

cing a mine. — Real del Monte. — The English venture. — #20,000,000 output, 
#16,000,000 income. — Veins miles in length, worked for 350 years. — Giant's 
Causeway of America. — The Cascade of Regla. — Basaltic columns. — How a mu- 
leteer became a Count. — A silver footpath. — 500,000 pounds of silver. — The Patio 
Process. — Silver dust and mud. — A wasteful process. — The Arrastre. — My 
Mozo. — Obsidian and Obsidian Mines. — San Miguel. — The Saxony Process. — 
Chilenos. — Ojos de Agua. — Total product of Mexican mines over $4,000,000,000. 

— Richest regions in the Republic. — The cavern of silver. — A field of doubtful 
profit. — Miners on the rampage 44^ 

XXIII. 

TOLTEC RUINS AND PYRAMIDS. 

Northward out of the valley. — The bull-fight. — The great Canal. — Railroad building 
with Mexicans. — Huts of aloes leaves. — Tula, City of the Toltecs. — Ruins of 
Indian cities. — A very old church. — Toltec remains unearthed. — A chance for 
archaeologists. — God of the Air. — The City of the Gods. — Teotihuacan. — Pyra- 
mids of the Sun and Moon. — The road of the dead. — A Treasure-chamber. — 
Heads of clay and terra-cotta. — Egyptian pyramids. — Tezcoco, the Athens of 
Anahuac. — A hunt for a missionary. — On his blind side. — A quiet city. — 
More ruins. — Tienda and Fonda. — Brigantines of Cortes. — Palace of the Hungry 
Jackal. — Ruins of reservoirs ■ . . 469 

XXIV. 
TLASCALA, PUEBLA, AND CHOLULA. 

Apizaco. — Chieftains of Tlascala. — Banner of Cortes. — Convent of early times. — 
Old bells. — Ancient font. — The first pulpit in New Spain. — The Meson. — The 
ever-present Cross. — City of Puebla. — A centre of priestly power. — " Pay or pray." 

— The City of the Angels. — A miracle somewhere. — A gorgeous cathedral. — 
Mexican onyx. — Translucent tecalli. — Church treasures. — A sanctimonious city. 

— Libraries and paintings. — A wonderful market. — Alarming telegrams. — The 
disappointed agriculturist. — A "holy terror." — Mexican versus vulture. — Pawn- 
ing a plough. — Stealing the teeth from a harrow. — Untrustworthy people. — Pyra- 
mid of Cholula. — The Feathered Serpent. — Old conventual structure. — The man 
with a butterfly net. — A naturalist's privileges. — A safeguard in Mexican travel . . 492 



XXV. 

SIX WEEKS IN SOUTHERN MEXICO. 

The Place of Pomegranates. — City of the Miztec Gods. — Cerro Colorado. — The Grant- 
Romero Railway. — A Sunday bull-fight. — A skirmish with fleas. — The Organ 
Cactus. — Nopal, or Prickly-pear. — A sugar plantation. — The drunken musicians. 

— Dominguillo. — A house and a cow-yard. — Zapotecs and Miztecs. — The buried 
golden throne. — Valley of Oaxaca. — Horseback and muleback. — The triple valley. 

— Fruits and cabinet woods. — Indian opposition to immigration. — A man to the 
square foot. — Antequera the Beautiful. — The home of distinguished men. — In- 
stitute of Oaxaca. — The Museum. — Monte Alban. — Hedges of cactus. — Co- 
chineal culture. — An industry of the past 514 



CONTENTS. xvii 

XXVI. 

THE WONDERFUL PALACES OF MITLA. 

Mitla. — A Mexican giant. — Astonished Mozo. — Cannibal Indians. — Tlacolula. 

The Zapotec dwelling of the dead. — Elaborate ornamentation. — Peculiar mosaics. 

— The Pillar of Death. — Blocks of porphyry. — Egyptian characters. — Idols of 
clay. — Grecques. — A sanguinary battle. — Montezuma's daughter. — The buried 
chamber. — St. John of the Drunkards. — The Alcalde, and his badge of office. 

— The giant tree of Tule. — A find of copper axes. — That fabled mine of gold. — 
Gorged with ruins. — The mines of Montezuma. — Don Santos Gomez. — Our 
frisky mule. — A Caballero's equipments. — The Mexican horse and its caparison. 
— The Sarape, Manga, and Poncho. — Saddle, bits, and bridle. — Sabre and pistols. 

— An aboriginal garment. — Off for the hills. — Indians of the Sierras. — Unso- 
phisticated people. — The Cabildo, or King's House. — " Mexican Connection." — 
Six weeks in the saddle. — A bolt for the coast. — Smitten with fever. — Small-pox 
and vomito. — Unanswered telegrams. — A ravaged town. — On the Yucatan shore. 

— A "Norther." — Death on shipboard. — Havana 531 



BOOK III. 

THE BORDER STATES. 

XXVII. 
BY RAIL TO NORTHERN MEXICO. 

Again en route for Mexico. — A change of scene. — Three thousand miles by rail. — 
Kaleidoscopic changes. — Through ticket for the Aztec Capital. — Across Texas in 
a hotel car. — San Antonio. — The Alamo. — Old Missions. — Town of Laredo. 

— An old Presidio. — Chaparral. — The stock craze. — Texan heroes. — On the 
Border. — The great Gould System of Railways, and its Mexican connections. — The 
National Railway. — Close competition in bridge-building. — A dusty place. — The 
gateway to the Land of Gold. — Corpus Christi. — The Oriental Road. — Sefior 
Milmo and his Mesa. — Pat Mullins for short. — Palo Blanco. — Bustamente. — 
Monterey, the beautiful city. — An "Invalid's Paradise." — Delightful climate. 
Dirty inhabitants. — Taylor's battle-ground. — The new health resort. — Hot springs 
of Topo Chico. — La Mitra and La Silla. — Bathing by proxy. — Bull-ring and 
cock-pit. — Border Ruffians. — The North American invasion. — Opposition to 
the Saxon immigrant. — Bishop's Palace. — El Gringo. — Murders on the line. — 
Mexican justice. — Police. — Americans in the calaboose. — Saltillo. — Buena Vista. 

— Enchanted Valley. — San Luis Potosi. — A piece of gold. — A Conducts . . . 553 

XXVIII. 

ALONG THE RIO GRANDE VALLEY. 

Coal-fields of the Pecos and Rio Grande. — The " Sunset Route." — Southern Pacific. 

— Midnight connections. — Spofford Junction. — Eagle Pass. — Truly an open 
house. — " Not that kind of a hair-pin." — Over the Rio Grande again. — Piedras 



XV111 CONTENTS. 

Negras. — The great Natural Portal. — Up a telegraph-pole. — A lively chase. 

— The International Railway. — Sabinas Valley. — State of Saltillo and its min- 
erals. — Track-laying extraordinary. — A feeble protest. — A new industry. — Ex- 
citing times for engineers. — The calaboose in prospect. — " Fools caught in Mex- 
ico." — Murdered by Kickapoos. — In Texas again. — Devil's River. — Painted 
Caves. — Prairie-dogs and antelope. — El Paso. — A growing city. — Atchison, 
Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad. — A model newspaper. — Paso del Norte. — 

An old church. — Vineyards and gardens 577 

XXIX. 
CHIHUAHUA, THE GREAT FRONTIER STATE. 

Over the Central Railway. — The Medarios. — Casas Grandes. — Ancient ruins. — 
Caravan journeys. — Montezuma. — Rumors of Apaches. — A desert region. — A 
vast Hacienda. — Chihuahua. — Approach to the city. — The great church. — Ameri- 
can hotels. — Ruined convent. — Silver mines of Santa Eulalia. — Don Enrique's 
Hacienda. — Smelting companies. — The Alameda. — "Americans" born in Ire- 
land. — Who commit the murders. — Silver mines of Batopilas. — Lumps of 
silver. — Scanty market supplies. — Hot Springs of Santa Rosalia. — Valley of Rio 
Florida. — Frontier of Durango. — Route of the Central southward. — Cerro Mer- 
cado. — The Iron Mountain. — Pottery of Guadalajara. — Over land by mule team. 

— Cathedral of Guadalajara. — The Chihuahua dog. — Protestant Mission . . . 601 

XXX. 

SONORA AND THE APACHE COUNTRY. 

Indians of the Haciendas. — A meeting with General Crook. — A moonlight ride to the 
Apache camp. — Armed captives. — Inveterate gamblers. — White men outwitted. 

— Adepts at poker and monte. — The price of blood. — Murdered men's money. — 
Our Indian policy. — The white boy captive. — Scouting in the Sierras. — Crook's 
desperate venture. — Map of the Apache country. — Did Crook capture the Indians ? 

— or the Indians capture Crook ? — Why they sent in their squaws and pappooses. 

— Another dip into Mexico. — Arezuma, land of gold. — Sonora, land of surprises. — 
The Sonora Railroad. — Benson. — Nogales. — Tombstone. — Magdalena. — Her- 
mosillo. — The Hill of Bells, Cerro de las Campanas. — Orange and citron groves. 
— The Dark-eyed Senorita. — Is she a myth ? — Guaymas. — Gulf of California. — 
A natural Dutch oven. — Not quite so bad as painted. — A vast navigation scheme. 

— Sleeping in the streets. — Pearls and pearl fisheries. — The gold excitement of 
Lower California. — Down the Sea of Cortes. — Yaqui and Mayo Indians. — Natives 

of Shark Island. — Water-carriers and their donkeys. — Adios ! 627 



INDEX 659 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



i. Valley of Mexico Frontispiece 

2. Colored Map of Mexico 21 

3. Yucatan Custom-House 26 

4. Cathedral of Merida 29 

5. Casa Municipal 33 

6. Oldest House in Yucatan 37 

7. A Tortilla-Seller 44 

8. A City Gate 47 

9. Old Church of Santiago 5 2 

10. An Inner Court 55 

11. Caleza and Volante 56 

12. Ruined City of Uxmal 59 

13. Hacienda Corridor 65 

14. Palace of the Vestals 69 

15. Court of the Serpent 73 

16. The Maya Arch (American Aboriginal) 77 

17. The "Elephant Trunks" 79 

18. Arch of the Akabna 85 

19. The Little Grass-Seller 87 

20. Columns of Ake 90 

21. The Great Katunes 92 

22. Hieroglyph of the God of Fire 97 

23. Nun's Palace, Chichen-Itza 99 

24. Gigantic Head of Izamal 103 

25. Carcel of Chichen 105 

26. Chaacmol, the Tiger-King 109 

27. A Column of the Katunes 1 1 1 

28. A Volan-Coche 113 

29. The Ramon-Seller 115 

30. Yucatan Mestizos 119 

31. The Prettiest Girl in the Room 123 

32. The Yucatan Cuisine 125 

33. Music of the Toro 128 

34. Our Indian Carrier 132 

35. La Tortillera 138 

36. Figure in Terra-Cotta 144 

37. An Incense-Burner 146 

38. Yucatan Fruit-Seller 150 

39. An Indian Mother and Child 152 



XX LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 

40. Plan of Palenque 157 

41. A Restoration 160 

42. An. Ornament in Stucco 162 

43. Tablet of the Cross 165 

44. Temple of the Cross 167 

45. A Statue from Palenque 168 

46. Sculptured Idol from Copan 169 

47. City of Vera Cruz T75 

48. The Zopilote 177 

49. Vera Cruz from the Sand-hills 183 

50. El Puente Nacional 187 

51. The Vanilla Plant 190 

52. Pyramid of Papantla 192 

53. Transcontinental Profile of Mexico 195 

54. Palms of the Coast . . 196 

55. In Tierra Caliente 199 

56. A Ravine in Tierra Templada 203 

57. A Coffee Plantation 209 

58. District and Volcano of Orizaba 211 

59. A Native Hut {Jacal) 214 

60. Peak and Crater of Orizaba 219 

61. Court of the National Museum 225 

62. The Great Cathedral 229 

63. Interior of the Cathedral 233 

64. Facade of the Sagrario 239 

65. Relative Levels of Lakes and City 241 

66. Canal of Nochistongo 242 

67. City of Mexico 245 

68. The Plaza Mayor 249 

69. Hotel Iturbide 255 

70. Convent of La Merced 259 

71. Church of San Domingo 262 

72. A Funeral Car 266 

73. Tree of Noche Triste 269 

74. Mexican Pottery 270 

75. A Native Indian 273 

76. Indian Woman 275 

77. A Creole Beauty 277 

78. Mestizo of the Table Land . . 280 

79. Indian Servant t 282 

80. The Lepero 285 

81. Serenos, or Night Watchmen 286 

82. The Water-Carrier 288 

83. Little Gods 293 

84. Mother of the Gods 295 

85. A Vender of Holy Relics 298 

86. Mission Map of Mexico 300 

87. The Sacrificial Stone 306 

88. Upper Surface of Sacrificial Stone 307 

89. Procession of Conquering Kings 307 

90. The Calendar Stone 311 

91. Aztec Cycle 311 

92. Huitzilopochtli, God of War 314 

93. Aztec Picture- Writing, the Cave Period 316 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. xxi 

94. Aztec Picture- Writing, Nomadic Period 317 

95. A Vase in the Museum 319 

96. "Sacrificial Collar" 320 

97. Figure in Wax 322 

98. Vegetable Vender 326 

99. In the Market 328 

[00. His own Handiwork .- 329 

[01. Canal of La Viga 333 

[02. From the Floating Gardens 335 

[03. Hill of the Star 337 

[04. The Axolotl (Siredori) 340 

[05. The Maguey 342 

[06. Extracting Aguamiel 345 

[07. Statue of Columbus 351 

[08. Castle of Chapultepec 357 

[09. The Alameda 361 

no. Those Monks of Old 366 

11. Bridge at El Desierto 368 

:i2. Volcano of Jorullo 372 

13. La Mujer Blanca 374 

14. Popocatapetl 377 

15. The Peak, from the Snow Line 384 

16. Volcanoes, from the Valley 387 

:i7- At the Summit 392 

18. Mexican Mountains 395 

:i9- On the Way to Market 399 

[20. The Double Aqueduct 403 

[21. Castle of Xochicalco 409 

[22. Sculptured Fragment from Palenque 411 

[23. Cavern of Cacahuamilpa 413 

[24. La Pollera (Chicken-Seller) 414 

[25. Railway Map of Mexican Valley 417 

[26. From Gulf to Table Land 424 

[27. Port of San Bias 428 

[28. Valley of Tula 431 

[29. City of Guanajuato 437 

[30. A View from Ozumba 443 

[31. Mining Town of Pachuca 449 

[32. Mexican Miners . 453 

[33. A Mining District . . .' 458 

[34. Cascade of Regla 460 

[35. A Strolling Musician 468 

[36. Toltec Ruins 471 

[37. Town of Tula 474 

[38. Caryatides 476 

[39. City of Queretaro 479 

[40. Sculptured Pillars 482 

[41. Pyramids of Teotihuacan 483 

[42. Heads of Clay 485 

143- An Ideal Garden 487 

[44. First Pulpit in America 493 

145. Old Stone Font 494 

. A Carving in the Convent 496 

147. City and Valley of Puebla 499 



xxii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 

148. Puebla and Vicinity 503 

149. A Mexican Plough 506 

150. Quetzalcoatl 508 

151. Pyramid of Cholula 511 

152. The Ever-present Cross 513 

153. Hedges of Cactus 516 

154. The Governor's Palace, Oaxaca 521 

155. Coffee Berries .... 524 

156. An Indian Market, Oaxaca 526 

157. Nopal Leaf with Cochineal Insects 530 

158. "Grand Sala," Mitla 532 

159. Hall of Monoliths 535 

160. The Mitla Mosaic 539 

161. A New Discovery 543 

162. Two Types of " Copper Axes " 544 

163. Don Santos, Prince of Guides 548 

164. El Alcalde (Gente de Razori) 550 

165. Monterey and La Silla 557 

166. The Plaza and La Mitra 563 

167. Cathedral of Monterey 567 

168. Mexican B! ^ridle, an ' Spurs 569 

169. The Parian 571 

170. The Cock-pit 573 

171. The Hotel Portal 579 

172. A Mexican Cart 582 

173. Bridge across the Rio Grande 584 

174. Paso del Norte 589 

175. Old Church at Paso del Norte 593 

176. Church Interior .' 597 

177. Indian Idols 600 

178. New Mexican Pueblo 603 

179. Ruins of Casas Grandes 607 

180. Great Church of Chihuahua 613 

181. Cathedral of Guadalajara 621 

T82. From the South 626 

183. Apache Squaws . . 629 

184. An Apache and his Wigwams 632 

185. A Warrior and his Weapons 635 

186. Map of the Apache Country 639 

187. The Portales of Alamos 645 

188. Town and Harbor of Guaymas 651 

189. Donkey Boys of Guaymas 655 

190. The Mexican Beggar (Pordiosero) 658 



BOOK I. 



YUCATAN. 



' World wrongly called the New ! this clime was old 
When first the Spaniard came, in search of gold. 
Age after age its shadowy wings had spread, 
And man was born, and gathered to the dead ; 
Cities arose, ruled, dwindled to decay, 
Empires were formed, then darkly swept away : 
Race followed race, like cloud-shades o'er the field, 
The stranger still to strangers doomed to yield. 
The last grand line that swayed these hills and waves, 
Like Israel, wandered long 'mid wilds and caves, 
Then, settling in their Canaan, cities reared, 
Fair Science wooed, a milder God revered, 
Till to invading Europe bowed their pride, 
And pomp, art, power, with Montezuma, died." 



I. 



A GLIMPSE OF YUCATAN. 

" \\ 7"E sailed at hazard towards that part of the horizon where 
* " the sun set." In these words Captain Bernal Diaz, 
companion of Cortes, tells of the approach of the Spanish fleet 
to Yucatan, in 15 17. 

We came, like those first Spanish navigators, from the east, 
from the fair island of Cuba, and we too sought the land that 
lay beyond the western horizon ; but not at hazard, and when 
a long, low line of sand appeared, one morning, we knew it was 
the coast of the mysterious peninsula. 

Easternmost land of Mexico, it presents the farther front of 
that ancient continent that may once have extended to Cuba, 
and beyond, — to Atlantis, to Africa. Without it, perhaps, there 
would have been no Gulf Stream ; and that warm river of the 
sea, diverted from our Northern shores, would have fertilized 
and vivified other countries instead. Had it not stood so boldly 
out, inviting those reckless Spaniards to conquest and plunder, 
Mexico might have remained till now as the aboriginal Culua, 
and the world of to-day be enjoying the benefits of its wonderful 
civilization. But what Yucatan might have been had it been 
different, or left to the people who ruled it four hundred years 
ago, we may better speculate upon after we have seen it. Let us 
go on shore. 

The coast lay full in sight at daybreak, and at nine o'clock 
the steamer anchored, several miles from shore. Scarce rising 
above the sea, a white sand-bank, relieved by groups of palms, 
a few tile-covered houses, and a long wharf, lay blazing in the 
sun. This was Progreso, only port of entry of Yucatan. Some 
vessels lay at anchor there, and a dozen lighters put out from 



26 



TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 



the beach and sailed towards us. As they neared the steamer, 
we could note that their crews wore cotton garments, and were 
clean; some wore no shirts, and some no trousers, but all 
were clean. This is said to be the notable difference between 
Yucatecans and Aztecs : these are clean, those are dirty. 




THE CUSTOM-HOUSE. 



The wind was fair, we were soon on shore, and the customs 
officials were examining our luggage. Then we were conducted 
to the hotel, a thatched structure with stone walls, and a sleep- 
ing apartment over the stable. This dormitory contained four 
hammocks and a wash-basin ; and enough spiders and scor- 
pions were supposed to lurk in the thatch overhead to make 
it interesting. 

Besides the hotel and the custom-house, there were a few 
score of tiled houses and thatched huts, several stores, a market, 



A GLIMPSE OF YUCATAN. 27 

and a church. As the shipping port for the vast quantities of 
Sisal hemp raised in Yucatan, this place is of great importance ; 
and as it has a reputation for health, though very hot, it is much 
resorted to in summer by people from the interior. It has only 
one wharf, or jetty, which is provided with wooden cranes, and 
is over five hundred feet long. There is no harbor here, and 
all vessels are obliged to anchor far from shore, the steamers at 
a distance of three miles. This open roadstead is exposed to 
all the winds that blow, and in the season of " northers " is posi- 
tively unsafe. The old port of Sisal, some distance farther down 
the coast, has been abandoned ; and as it has no railroad into 
the interior, it will never more be the place of export for the 
hemp that bears its name, and which constitutes the wealth of 
the country. 

A railroad connects Progreso with Merida, a distance of 
twenty-five miles ; and though all the iron, equipments, and 
rolling-stock for that road were brought fiom England and the 
United States and landed at the port, they were carted to the 
interior terminus and the road commenced at that end. At 
first sight, this will seem one of the foolish undertakings of that 
unprogressive country ; but let us see. The contractor wished 
to secure at once the benefit of freights, and, as all the hemp 
came from the interior, it was advisable, apparently, to begin 
at the end nearest the freight ; hence everything was hauled to 
Merida, and the road begun there. As soon as the first few 
miles were laid, this wary contractor commenced to haul hemp 
over his rails by mule power, so far as they went. Again, he 
got a concession, or grant of money from the government, for 
every mile of road when finished. The portion nearest Merida 
was the easiest to build, and all the laborers were there also. 
Thus, in many ways, did this sagacious man make his enterprise 
pay him from the very start, until to-day it is considered one 
of the most profitable railroads in the world. According to the 
terms of his contract with the government, the owner of the rail- 
road was compelled to carry passengers from port to capital for 
a certain reasonable sum, when it should be completed. As a 
consequence, he built to within a mile or two of the coast, and 



28 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

then charged at a very unreasonable rate ; now, however, it is 
finished. There are two trains daily each way, besides the 
freight cars, forenoon and afternoon. 

Back of the dunes of the coast there is a broad lagoon, hun- 
dreds of miles in length, varying in depth and breadth with 
the season. Here many of our Northern summer birds spend 
the winter: duck and teal, snowy-plumaged herons, ibis and 
egrets, snipe and sandpipers, curlews, snake-birds, and cormo- 
rants. Beyond the lagoon, the bed of coral rock, composing the 
entire territory of Yucatan, rises above the level of the water. 
The vegetation is not exuberant, and the soil is thin and dry. 

Soon after leaving the lagoon, the road passes through the 
henequen plantations, with miles and miles of Sisal hemp on 
either side the track, the immense fields neatly walled, to pre- 
vent the roaming cattle from getting in and eating the plant. 
The dwellings of the planters are surrounded with coco palms, 
and are approached by long lanes terminating in arched stone 
gateways. Excepting the hemp plantations, there is little to 
interest one, as the prevailing vegetation is low and scrubby. 
But the people alone are sufficiently strange to Northern eyes, 
for they are wholly peculiar to this country ; they are Indians, 
descendants of the original inhabitants found here by Cortes 
and Cordova. We meet them in little groups that grow larger 
as we near the city suburbs, until (this being Sunday, and con- 
sequently a holiday) they pass along the road in processions of 
hundreds. The men and women are all neatly clad in garments 
of white, white as snow, the former wearing shirts with ruffled 
bosoms and plaited backs, the women their traditional dress of 
three centuries ago, — a skirt from the waist to the ankles, and 
an outside uipil, or overskirt, from the shoulders to the knees. 
It is evident that the engine has not ceased to be a wonder 
with them, as many have a timorous expression on their faces, 
and every time the whistle blows, or steam escapes, start back 
in affright. It seemed that intense curiosity only had overcome 
their fear of this monster. These great crowds of Indians, gath- 
ered here to inspect the steam marvel of the white man, recall 
to mind those passages in the narratives of the explorers of this 



A GLIMPSE OF YUCATAN. 



31 



country, when the ancestors of these same people collected by 
thousands, eventually to oppose the march of the invaders, but 
prompted solely at first by no stronger motive than that of 
curiosity. 

The train, drawn by an American engine and composed mainly 
of cars manufactured in the States, passed through a narrow, 
crowded street, and rested finally at the station. As in North- 
ern cities, there were cabmen here, but they were perfectly in- 
different as to whether one hired them or not. We finally 
captured one, succeeded in making him understand that we 
wished to engage him, and were driven through broad streets, 
between stone-walled houses, to the hotel. 

The buildings display a style of architecture peculiar to the 
country, combining with the picturesqueness of Moorish and 
Spanish something that recalls the ruins of the Indian civiliza- 
tion upon which they are built. The larger structures, such as 
the hospital, Governor's palace, and city hall, have balconies 
projecting from their upper windows, while many of them are 
supported upon arches, the long colonnades of which have an im- 
posing appearance. Most prominent among the peculiar features 
are the grated windows of all the houses. There is no glass in 
use here, but every window is enclosed by a grating of half-inch 
iron bars, which projects from the wall about a foot. Through 
these prison-suggestive windows, as we rode along in the gloom 
of early evening, I could see most attractive groups of lovely 
faces. Though there were here and there some with pale com- 
plexion, many that we saw that evening seemed of Indian 
descent. All had black hair, and great black, lustrous eyes, 
and most of them looked quite bewitching, — as they should, 
for they were senoritas, young ladies and misses. 

The Hotel Mexico, where we stopped, faced the Plaza Mayor, 
or great central square, about which are arranged the principal 
buildings : the cathedral, with lofty towers and walls two centu- 
ries old, fronts the Casa Municipal, or city hall, erected sixty 
years ago; the hotel is one of a long block supported upon 
effective arches of masonry ; opposite it, on the south side of 
the Plaza, is the oldest house in the city, built in 1549. A great 



32 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

mound once covered the space now occupied by the Plaza 
Mayor, and on and around it, in 1540, a terrible battle was 
fought, — forty thousand Indians against two hundred Span- 
iards, says the old historian. The mound was razed, and from 
its materials and the many pyramids of stone erected by the 
Indians in ages past, the city of Merida was built. The last of 
these mounds, an immense artificial elevation containing an 
aboriginal arch, has just been dug away for the building-stone 
composing it. 

There are fifteen plazas in the city, and each one has facing 
it a church; like the cathedral, erected in 1667, on the great 
plaza, of ancient date and most attractive and quaint architecture. 
Though these churches are now impoverished, and some of them 
in decay, the number of the faithful is sufficient to maintain 
a suggestion of former grandeur. Since the expulsion of the 
Jesuits, some twenty years ago, religious processions have been 
forbidden, the various streets and plazas have changed names, 
and many large colleges and monasteries have changed owners. 
One of the pleasantest of the squares is the Parque Hidalgo, 
formerly known as the Plaza de Jesus. The largest of all had 
a fountain, which is soon to be replaced by a fine statue of 
marble, in its centre, smooth walks, an abundance of flowers, 
and is shaded by trees. The streets of the city cross each other 
at right angles; they were formerly designated by figures of 
birds and beasts, as the bulk of the Indian population could 
not read. On each corner was painted the figure representing 
the street, or an image was perched on the wall. Few of these 
objects remain, but one may yet find the " Street of the Ele- 
phant," of the " Flamingo," and the " Street of the Two Faces." 
The elephant is large as an ox, with a body big as a barrel, 
and curved trunk and tusks. Nearly all the streets of the 
city terminate in ancient gateways, high arching above the 
pavement, with niches and spaces in them, containing some 
saint, the Virgin, or a cross. 

Though under the federal government of Mexico, the State of 
Yucatan has its separate governor and legislature. The Governor 
is generally an efficient man, and interested in the welfare and 



A GLIMPSE OF YUCATAN. 35 

development of the country. He has a salary of $4,000, with 
an appropriation of $16,000 for himself and staff, in which this 
is included. The Lieutenant-Governor gets $1,500, the Vice- 
Governor and Council, $5,000, total. Other salaries are: — 

Judicial body (twelve members) $16,500 

Clerks, etc 13,5°° 

Remaining officials, about 35»°°° 

The appropriations for the year 1881 were: — 

For public schools, about $50,000 

Public improvements, railroads, roads, etc 43>°°° 

Police 14,000 

National Guard 25,000 

Every man, from twenty-one years to fifty, is subject to mili- 
tary duty, and may at any time be drafted. He then gets the 
extraordinary pay of six cents per day, and finds himself in food. 

The total budget for 1881 was about $300,000, of which the 
officials absorbed such a portion as seemed to them best for 
the public good — and themselves. It is a noteworthy fact, that, 
out of the various sums appropriated, but $300 was set aside 
for the Museum : this in a country richer in archaeological re- 
mains than any other known portion of America. But a fact still 
worthier of comment is, that they should have established a 
museum at all. The Museo Yucateco is not large nor well con- 
ducted, and its few specimens are poorly arranged ; but it con- 
tains many a prize that our archaeologists would like to secure. 

There are several newspapers here, the Eco and the Revista 
being the commercial papers. The former is published three 
times a week, the latter daily, and both are very well edited. 
There are also a semi-weekly official organ, and two religious 
papers, one Catholic and one independent. There is a bank 
in Merida, and drafts can also be obtained on New York and 
Europe from the hemp exporters, who are the heaviest busi- 
ness men of the city. Premium on drafts about fifteen per 
cent, at sixty days' sight. The rate of interest here is from 



36 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

one to two per cent a month. Travellers coming here should 
bring American gold, as it is always at a high premium and 
pays no duty. 

For a city so isolated, and in a climate so totally antagonistic 
to the development of literary talent, Merida contains many writ- 
ers of more than local distinction. Her list embraces authors 
of valuable historical works, writers of fiction, poetry, and the 
drama. One work, a Dictionary of the Maya, the aboriginal 
language of the peninsula, is especially valuable ; and a recent 
drama written here has been produced in Havana and Madrid. 
It may seem strange that men of education and reputation 
should prefer to live in this remote section of the world ; but 
there seems to be a charm about this old city that draws them 
to it. There are here men of great wealth, men who have 
crossed and recrossed the Atlantic, were educated in London 
and Paris, and have passed years on the Continent, who yet love 
the city beyond anything else in the world. 

Though lying just midway between Havana and Vera Cruz in 
point of longitude, — cities smitten with yellow-fever every sum- 
mer, — Merida rarely suffers from this scourge. But few cases 
annually occur, it not often becomes epidemic, and it is said 
that at no time has the vomito existed in Merida and in its sea- 
port, Progreso, at the same time. The city is generally in a 
very healthy condition, though its only supply of water is de- 
rived from the clouds and from subterranean caverns. 

The climate is hot as the hottest, but the furnace heat of mid- 
day is tempered by cool breezes ; night and day the wind is 
blowing, rendering life more than endurable here. The tem- 
perature ranges from about seventy-five to ninety-eight degrees, 
in the shade. -Though one would suppose the hottest months 
would be August and September, yet it is said that March and 
April have that distinction, when, added to the heat generated 
by the sun, is that from burning corn-fields, which are fired all 
over the country. 

The houses are freer from vermin than is usual in tropical 
countries, owing perhaps to their manner of construction. There 
are two thick walls with a filling of stone, sometimes from four 



A GLIMPSE OF YUCATAN. 



37 



to six feet deep. The rooms are lofty and spacious, though gen- 
erally barren of ornament, and washed or painted white. The 
great beams supporting the stone roof are visible overhead, 
and are painted a different color. The floors are cemented, the 
courts tiled, and there is no woodwork except in the doors and 
windows. Rooms of this vault-like character are gloomy and de- 
pressing to a stranger, but they at least offer no harbor of refuge 




ANCIENT HOUSE. 



for spiders, centipedes, or scorpions, and one may retire to his 
hammock with a sense of security not always felt within the 
tropics. The furniture of these houses is simple and plain, and, 
except in those of the very rich, there is little beyond what 
necessity requires. No earthquakes or hurricanes disturb the 
equanimity of the Yucatecos, their heaviest blows seldom ex- 
ceeding the limits of temporales, or strong winds. Many of the 



38 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

houses here were built two hundred years ago, and their beams 
and rafters are as hard as iron. The most ancient of these old 
buildings is one erected in the year 1549, by the Adelantado, 
Don Francisco Montejo, the conqueror of Yucatan. Its facade 
is a grotesque combination of Moorish-Indian architecture, rep- 
resenting knights in armor trampling upon prostrate Indians. 

The lamented archaeologist, J. L. Stephens, whose writings on 
the ruins of Central America and Yucatan have secured him per- 
manent fame, resided here forty years ago, in company with his 
artist, Mr. Catherwood, and Dr. Cabot, of Boston. The house 
he then occupied, and rented at four dollars a month, is now 
leased for sixty dollars. A corresponding rise in real estate 
has been steady, and now it is next to impossible to find a 
house to let or for sale. Business is active, prices ranging 
about the same as in Havana. To summarize a comprehensive 
glance over the State, the following figures are appended : 
Capital and largest city, Merida ; port of entry, Progreso ; 

Number of other cities 7 

Towns 13 

Villages 143 

Abandoned settlements 15 

Haciendas 333 

Ruined cities 62 

Many of the " cities " are beginning to decay ; many of the 
" towns " are composed entirely of thatched huts, and many of 
the haciendas comprise enormous estates, with mile on mile 
of territory ; so that Yucatan, though dotted with indications of 
civilization on the map, is yet mainly a wilderness, with perhaps 
less territory developed than when Cordova landed here, or 
when Montejo conquered its aboriginal inhabitants. 



II. 

YUCATECOS. 

ABIT of history might be quoted here, to the better under- 
standing of the country, the people, and their institutions ; 
and without further parley we will turn to the description given 
by Ferdinand Columbus of the first Indians from Yucatan that 
the eye of Spaniard ever looked on. It was on the fourth 
and last voyage of the Great Admiral, in 1502, when, driven by 
currents out of his southerly course from San Domingo, he 
sighted a group of islands off Honduras, and captured a canoe, 
formed of the trunk of a single tree, eight feet wide and as long 
as a galley. " In the middle was an awning of palm leaves, not 
unlike those of the Venetian gondolas, under which were the 
women, children, and all the goods. The canoe was under the 
direction of twenty-five Indians. They had cotton coverlets and 
tunics without sleeves, curiously worked and dyed of various 
colors [exactly the same as are worn in Yucatan at the present 
day] , covering for the loins of similar material, large mantles, in 
which the Indian women wrapped themselves, like the Moorish 
women of Grenada; long swords with channels on each side 
the blade, edged with sharp flints that cut the body as well as 
steel ; hatchets of copper for cutting wood, .bells of the same 
material, and crucibles in which to melt it. For provisions they 
had such roots and grains as the natives of Hispaniola (Haiti) 
eat, a sort of wine made of maize and great quantities of almonds 
(cacao) 1 of the kind used by the people of New Spain for money. 
The Spaniards were also struck with the personal modesty of 
these Indians, in which they greatly excelled the natives of the 
islands." 

1 The seeds of the Cacao — Theobroma cacao — are still used as small change in 
barter amongst the poorer classes of Southern Mexico. 



40 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

Columbus sailed to the south ; how much better would it 
have been for him had he sailed west ! " Within a day or two," 
says Irving, " he would have arrived at Yucatan ; the discovery 
of Mexico and the other opulent countries of New Spain would 
have necessarily followed ; the Southern Ocean would have 
been disclosed to him, and a succession of splendid discoveries 
would have shed fresh glory on his declining age, instead of its 
sinking amidst gloom, neglect, and disappointment." 

Four years later, in 1506, Juan Diaz de Solis, afterwards dis- 
coverer of the Rio de la Plata, and Vicente Yanez Pinzon, who 
commanded a ship in the first voyage of Columbus, and was so 
unfairly treated by him, entered the Gulf of Honduras and saw 
the east coast of Yucatan. They departed, however, without 
any attempt at exploration, lured by vague reports of gold in 
the south, and to Cordova and his companions must be awarded 
the glory of bringing Yucatan to the notice of the world, and 
of opening the way for its acquisition by the Spaniards. 

This venture of Hernandez de Cordova, in 15 17, though it 
yielded him and his comrades scarcely any reward save the 
consciousness of having found a new country, (all of his com- 
pany being wounded and many of them killed in encounters 
with the natives,) yet first made known the existence of a land 
whose inhabitants were decently clothed, and built houses of 
stone and lime. 

Following in the wake of that stout old soldier and chronicler, 
Bernal Diaz, who was with Cordova, we shall need no other 
guide through the historic portion of Mexico, for he attended 
its christening and was in at the death. 1 Undaunted by his 
wounds of the previous year, he sailed with Juan de Grijalva, 
in 1 5 18, in which memorable voyage he coasted the entire 
northern and western shores of Yucatan, and reached under this 

1 " Bernal Diaz del Castillo is the best that ever writ of the Conquest of Mexico, 
as having been an Eye Witness to all the principal Actions there ; and has an air 
of Sincerity ; writing in a plain Style, and sparing none where he could see any 
Fault. 

"Cortes' Letters cannot be contradicted, he having been the chief Agent in the 
Conquest of Mexico, but he being more taken up with Acting than Writing, could 
not give them all their Perfection." — Herrera, Stevens's translation, 1740. 



YUCATECOS. 



41 



commander the site of the present city of Vera Cruz. In 15 19 
this intrepid soul again set sail for Yucatan, in the service of 
Hernando Cortes, whom he followed through all his wanderings ; 
and in this manner unconsciously collected the material for the 
best and most truthful history of the conquest of Mexico that 
has been given to the world. 

The richer country of Mexico attracted all the captains and 
soldiers thither, and Yucatan remained comparatively unnoticed 
for a decade of years after its discovery. In the year 1527 the 
gallant Don Francisco de Montejo obtained a grant from the 
king of Spain for its conquest and colonization. Landing first 
at the island of Cozumel, off the east coast of Yucatan, he 
attempted to march into the interior from the shore of the 
peninsula opposite, but everywhere met with determined oppo- 
sition from the Indians. It was not until the year 1537 that, 
Don Francisco having been driven from the territory, his son 
again effected a landing near Campeche. From that date to 
the great battle at T'ho (Merida), in 1540, the Spaniards were 
constantly fighting ; but they finally triumphed — only to find 
that this country, which they had so desperately battled for 
and which its native inhabitants had so bravely defended, con- 
tained not a single mine of gold or silver, nor anything to 
reward them for their conquest. 

Since this period, the history of Yucatan has been mainly 
uneventful to the world at large. The people, the first shedders 
of European blood in New Spain, and apparently ferocious and 
sanguinary, readily yielded to the Spaniards, quickly embraced 
the religion of the usurpers, and settled down to the cultivation 
of the arts of peace. In the year 1761 occurred a great uprising 
of the raza indigena, or aborigines; and again in 1847 a numer- 
ous body revolted and fled to the southeastern portion of the 
peninsula, which they still occupy. For thirty years and more 
there have been Indians with their war-paint on, rebels against 
the authority of the government. Though living in the eastern 
portion of the country, they now and then make raids in the 
direction of Merida, causing great excitement; they have de- 
populated a large extent of country, and caused towns and 



42 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

even cities to be abandoned. A notable example is the city 
of Valladolid, once a large and flourishing centre of trade, noted 
for its manufactures of cotton, but now nearly abandoned and 
in ruins. 

In numbers, these Indians are not strong, the largest estimates 
being no higher than seven thousand ; in fact, there are not 
probably more than two thousand. They are, however, fierce 
and revengeful, — a different people, seemingly, from the tim- 
orous Indians of Merida, whose ancestors probably built the 
magnificent temples that now lie in ruins throughout Yucatan. 
They are more like the Caribs, the people that once possessed 
the southern West Indies, the Spanish Main, and the Mesquita 
Coast. Though few in number, they have succeeded in com- 
pletely terrorizing the entire country, and are as difficult to find 
as were the Seminoles of Florida forty years ago. The wildest 
stories circulate about them, and the people of the city tremble 
at their very name. If a stranger penetrate to their country, 
they seize him at once and hack him in pieces with their machetes 
without listening to a word of explanation ; or they reserve him 
for torture, tying him by a long line to a stake by a ring through 
the nose. 

Though so atrociously cruel, yet who can blame them, when 
he remembers the torments inflicted upon the ancestors of these 
people by the early Spaniards? To them, every man with a 
pale face is a Spaniard, whose abhorred presence is to be rid 
of by death. They hold guarded intercourse with the English 
in Belize, but allow no white man to penetrate to their city. 
This city, whose inhabitants must yet retain much of their abo^ 
riginal simplicity, much of ancient cunning in the arts of their 
progenitors, — what traveller would not like to visit and de- 
scribe it ? 

Annually, their territory is increasing in extent, and that of 
the whites and agricultural Indians becoming restricted ; rancho 
and hacienda, farm and plantation, village and town, — one by 
one they are destroyed, and the land they covered added to that 
of the dreaded sublevados, or insurgents. It was rumored in 1881 
that all the Indians of Yucatan, Central America, and Honduras 



YUCATECOS. 



43 



were to unite in one general uprising, and it was well known that 
the Indians of Chan Santa Cruz had sent invitations for a grand 
council of all the tribes ; but the latest advices report that they 
have buried the hatchet. Every year they send a threatening 
message to the capital, promising to make its streets run with 
blood, and to massacre the last inhabitant ; and every year the 
people quake and turn pale, but do nothing to prevent their ad- 
vance. That advance, if it is ever made, will be along the ridge 
of the hills that lie south of Merida, commencing at Uxmal and 
running into the interior, towards the capital of these insurgents, 
Chan Santa Cruz. Yucatan is incompletely garrisoned by a few 
Mexican and Federal troops, who once in a while march out into 
the country in search of the Indians, who retire to their fast- 
nesses; and the troops then triumphantly return, with a great 
flourish of trumpets — but without any Indians. 

From fifty to fifty-five thousand people reside in this city 
of Merida, the greater portion of whom are Indians, or people 
directly descended from them, who show in their swarthy skins 
their native blood. From a union of the two races, Spanish and 
Indian, result the Mestizos, — feminine, Mestizoes, — or mixed 
people, who are the handsomest in all Mexico. They are a 
gentle, docile race, loving pleasure, not always avoiding labor, 
cleanly in habit, and perfectly honest. Though three centuries 
have passed away since this territory was subjugated, the In- 
dians and Mestizos yet retain many of their ancient customs and 
dances, and especially the style of dress of the period antece- 
dent to the conquest. 

As a servant, the Indian is slothful, but humble, never impu- 
dent, always reliable ; and a dirty one is indeed a phenomenon. 
C In hiring laborers, whether to work on a plantation or as house 
servants, you must always advance them money, retaining a 
percentage from their wages as they come due, to reimburse 
you. No matter how long a servant may stay with you, he 
or she will surely leave in your debt ; even the washerwoman is 
no exception. When they desire to go, they do so, previously 
informing you of their intention. This is generally when they 
have got a little money ahead ; and they lie idle so long as it 



44 



TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 



lasts. The person next employing them is supposed to assume 
the debts of the Indian. Imprisonment for debt has been abol- 
ished ; you cannot force a laborer to work out a debt, and at 
death all obligation of estate or family ceases. Wages are not 
high ; a good cook gets but two dollars per month, and her 
assistants even less. A day-laborer gets two reales (twenty-five 

cents) a day, a good mason 
from sixty-two cents to one 
dollar and a half, and his at- 
tendants fifty cents ; carpen- 
ters and blacksmiths, about 
the same. \ 

The economy of the cui- 
sine is something wonderful 
in its simplicity, even in the 
houses of the rich. Starting 
upon first principles, the In- 
dian and Mestiza women who 
rule the kitchen prepare the 
farinaceous food in the same 
manner as they did a thou- 
sand years ago. For hun- 
dreds of years, the Indian 
women of the South have 
ground the corn for their 
daily bread, as at the pres- 
ent day, between two stones. 
They know no other way. 
One of them, being told that 
the women of the North had 
no such employment, exclaimed, in surprise, 3 Why, what do they 
find to do with themselves?" Night and day, these poor 
women labor at the mill. The smooth stone at which they 
work is called a metdte, from the Aztec metatl, and has long 
been in common use among the Indians all over our continent, 
specimens having been found in New Jersey, in Mexico, Yuca- 
tan, and the West Indies. Upon this metate the corn, pre- 




TORTILLA-SELLER. 



YUCATECOS. 



45 



viously softened in alkaline water, is ground to a fine paste, 
then patted into thin cakes and baked over a quick fire on a 
thin iron plate or flat stone. The accompanying engraving 
represents one of the tortilla-makers ; the girl herself is a fair 
type of the Mestiza of the serving class of Yucatan. 

These cakes of Indian corn, called tortillas, constitute, with 
frijoles (pronounced free-hd -les) , the chief food of the poorer 
classes of all Mexico. Frijoles, it may be well to explain, are 
beans, — nothing more, nothing less ; and these good people eat 
them twice every day, fourteen times a week, and seven or eight 
hundred times a year. They are always accompanied with chile, 
a kind of red pepper that delights the Mexican stomach, but 
which is so very hot that few strangers dare approach within a 
foot of it. 

It was to the credit of the United States, and my good for- 
tune, that we had as Consul in Yucatan, at the time of my arrival, 
a gentleman every way fitted for the position. Consul Ayme, 
though of French extraction, was a true American. He had 
twice circled the globe, was with our transit of Venus expe- 
dition as mineralogist, in 1874, and possessed rare accomplish- 
ments as an educated gentleman and devotee of science. Stran- 
gers at that time were rare in Merida, and the good Consul 
sought me out at the Hotel Mexico, and, with Spanish polite- 
ness and more than Spanish sincerity, offered me his house dur- 
ing the period of my stay. To him I am indebted for forty 
happy days in Yucatan, and for the best disposition of the time 
at my command. The building occupied by him as the consu- 
late was on the south side of the Plaza, near the antique structure 
previously mentioned as having been erected by the first Ade- 
lantado of Yucataji. From it the various excursions projected 
for my benefit by my hospitable friend were carried out, em- 
bracing not only the interesting portions of the city, but remote 
points in the country, noted for their ruins or as being the resorts 
of rare birds. 

An interesting place to visit, always, was the market, held in a 
large court enclosed on every side by high buildings. The en- 
trance was nearly always obstructed by women with fruit to sell, 



46 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

whose presence was tolerable from the fact that they sold it 
extremely cheap. For a medio (six cents) one could buy a 
dozen oranges, a bunch of bananas, or a large lot of mangoes. 
The court was filled with little shelters made by planting a pole 
in the ground, and making a framework on it like the ribs of 
an umbrella, and covering it with matting. Beneath each one 
sat a woman or girl, with her articles for sale spread about and 
before her, — a little fruit, cabbage, lettuce, or cooked meat. 
Upon a square of cloth, spread on the pavement, would be half 
a dozen eggs, right out where everybody was passing, or a few 
peppers, a bunch of flowers, or a pint of beans. Some of these 
market-women wore elegantly embroidered uipils ; some were 
pretty, all were modest, and all were peaceable. During the 
time I was in that country I did not see one quarrelsome or dis- 
orderly person, hardly heard a baby cry, or any one raise his 
voice to another above a tone of polite conversation ; the place 
was crowded, but there was no jostling or confusion. 

In a circular space in the Calle de Hidalgo is a market de- 
voted entirely to the sale of hats and hammocks, the handiwork 
of Indians, who squat there all day in the blazing sun. Near this 
place is the corn-market, a long line of arcades beneath which 
the merchants sit with corn and beans emptied in heaps on the 
pavement. There are sold here, also, pottery and fancy wares. 
Under the castle walls, the mule teams that have come in the 
night before from the interior are grouped, resting, or waiting for 
return loads. Above all, the ruined cupolas of the monastery 
peer over the castle walls that surround it, and the cries and 
the drumming of the guard occasionally ring out from within. 
This monastery was built on the ruins of an artificial mound, 
was of vast proportions, and covered that mysterious arch men- 
tioned by Stephens, which has so long been a puzzle and a 
stumbling-block to archaeologists. 

The air of morning is so sweet, so cool, that a walk into the 
suburbs is almost imperative. The first noises are just preced- 
ing daybreak, when the soldiers change guard at the " palace " ; 
then the bells of the cathedral strike up, and shortly after appear 
dawn and sunrise. Passing through one of the quaint and 



YUCATECOS. 49 

ancient gates, you enter at once pleasant and winding lanes, 
grass-grown and with protruding limestone rocks, with trees 
thick on either side, and half-wild gardens ; but in all this tropic 
shrubbery there are few birds save the mocking-bird, blackbird, 
and cardinal. 

The few people you meet are unobtrusive, and you may wan- 
der on for hours among the peculiar oblong huts, — deeply 
thatched with grass, so picturesque and so vermin-suggestive, — 
with women in neglige garbs cooking in the yards, and children 
contentedly playing about them, without hearing a harsh or dis- 
cordant voice. Here indeed the softness of the climate makes 
itself felt. Returning at perhaps nine or ten o'clock, you will 
experience great discomfort from the glare of the sun on the 
yellow, dust-covered streets. A wise ordinance of the city pro- 
hibits the painting of a house white, for this very reason, glare. 
If such a law were in force in other cities within the region of 
heat, as in Bermuda or Barbados, for instance, how beneficial it 
would prove to the people ! In those islands everything is 
white, except the plants, — houses, streets, and sand-hills ; and, 
as if the white stone they build of were not glaring enough, 
they whitewash the roofs, and wear blue spectacles to mitigate 
the intensity of the reflected rays of the sun. 

Rarely does a visitor to Merida, or indeed to any portion of 
Mexico, obtain an inside view of life there ; but, fortunately for 
me, while there, society was turned inside out by the occurrence 
of the carnival. It was near the middle of that memorable six- 
teenth century that witnessed the conquests of Cuba, of Mexico, 
and of Peru, that the Spanish invaders founded, upon the ruins 
of the Indian city of T'ho, this now ancient metropolis, the capi- 
tal city of Yucatan. Probably no one of the old cities of Mexico 
has so faithfully preserved its old-time characteristics as this. 
Though Roman Catholic in their faith, many of its citizens yet 
cling to their ancient religious rites, practising them, however, 
only in secret. But there have been also deeply engrafted upon 
the minds of the people many customs of times more modern 
than that of the conquest. A city of fifty thousand inhabit- 
ants cannot exist in a Catholic country — even one in which 

4 



50 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

the power of the Church has been so curtailed as in Mexico — 
without observing the feast-days and the carnival. This lat- 
ter celebration, thanks to the readily accepted invitation of 
the United States Consul, I had an excellent opportunity for 
witnessing. 

Four days were devoted to the carnival, and five nights to 
the balls which form a part of it. Sunday, the 27th of Feb- 
ruary, was properly the day of opening, though the ball of 
Saturday night was a brilliant affair. The first indications of the 
carnival on Sunday morning were from a band of Indians, who 
personated the wild men of the country in songs and dances, 
and exhibited for the amusement of themselves and spectators 
the costumes of their ancestors. These were of the lower classes, 
who had not attended the ball of the previous night. Soon the 
streets were alive with people, after the morning mass, and the 
fun commenced. Though fun-loving and innocent in their 
amusements, these people have not the fertility of invention 
necessary to secure artistic effect, or to more than broadly 
burlesque the customs of their own country. Their best groups 
were the Indians, who excelled in dancing, and the estudiantes, 
or bands of Spanish students, who went about in costume, sing- 
ing songs of their own composition. 

Let one day in my description suffice as a specimen of all the 
rest, and let that day be Sunday because everybody was fresh, 
excited, and animated. After the Indians had passed, and a 
great crowd of the ordinary " tag-rag and bobtail " of such 
processions, came the estudiantes ; a picturesque band, happy, 
careless, tuneful. Down the street they came, around the corner 
of the Plaza, in sight of the great cathedral, and halted opposite 
the consulate. At a signal from their leader, they burst forth 
into wild, sweet melody, from guitars thrummed by practised 
hands, flutes, violins, and violoncellos. They handed us some 
printed songs, and we saw that they were the work of some of 
Merida's sons, — for they have poets here of no mean rank. 
Their music was lively and pleasing, and they were so well drilled 
as to render all their pieces most effectively ; the impression left 
as they passed on was as though one had listened to an opera, 



YUCATECOS. 



5* 



without the fatigue of going to hear it. There were two bands 
of students, one wearing dark cloaks and sombreros, and the 
other the Mexican colors, flags draped as cloaks, and hats with 
cockades. They were true students, and patterned after those 
famous ones of Salamanca, wearing in their hats the traditional 
spoon, knife and fork, or corkscrew, and with the devil-may- 
care air of contented and light-hearted youth. 

They pass on, and the road is for a moment empty ; another 
shout from the gamins, a hubbub of drum and cornet, and an- 
other body of curiously attired men comes along. These are 
the military, a burlesque on the Indian soldiers that assume to 
defend this peaceful country. They are dressed in uniform, — 
Mexican uniform: white pants and shirt, the latter outside and 
overshadowing the former, — and some of them drag along a 
wooden cannon. 

Another crowd rushes around the corner, bearing a different 
flag. These are Cubans, and a fight is at once in progress, a 
sham fight, in which no blood is shed, but many prisoners are 
taken. The Cubans are routed, of course, and pursued down the 
street with great pretended slaughter. The Yucatecos return 
with several prisoners, and at once institute a mock trial, the 
prisoners, three in number, being chained with strings of spools 
to the cannon. The captain asks the corporal of the guard 
where he found these men, and is told that he found them in the 
country; that they had no arms, so his men surrounded and 
took them prisoners. 

" Did you not find any other prisoners? " 

" Si, Seizor Capitan, a jug of aguardiente." 

" And where is it ? " 

" The prisoners drank it." 

" Then take them out to be shot." 

A detachment marched off with the prisoners, and the ragged 
brigade went off in search of more glory. In the afternoon, at 
five, was the great paseo, when everybody who could hire a 
carriage joined in the procession that drove through the prin- 
cipal streets. Not all the carriages were elegant, being, most of 
them, of the country; but on this account they were all the more 



52 



TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 



interesting, especially the calezas, — two-wheeled vehicles, built 
somewhat after the pattern of the Cuban volante. These calezas, 
each drawn by a single horse or mule, on whose back was perched 
the driver, contained some of the prettiest girls in Merida, dark- 
skinned as a rule, but with beautiful black hair and eyes, and 
milk-white teeth. 




THE CHURCH OF SANTIAGO. 

The group at the consulate could not resist joining in the pro- 
cession, and a caleza was obtained at once. The prescribed 
route, from which no one ever varied, was around the Plaza and 
through the two principal streets. At the corner of one is the 
famous nunnery, built many years ago, now partially in ruins, since 
the banishment of the fair inmates. It is said that there exists a 



YUCATECOS. 53 

secret tunnel leading under the city from the monastery (now 
likewise in ruins) to this abode of peace and purity. The start- 
ing-place for the grand paseo is at the square of Santiago, where 
is a most holy church, in front of which is a great ceiba tree, the 
centre of the bull-ring. It is one of the oldest in the city, its 
fagade is adorned with numerous statues, and its cupola with 
many bells. In the opinion of the early builders of churches, 
the sanctuary that could crowd the most bells into its turrets, 
and raise the loudest clangor, possessed the strongest odor of 
sanctity. 

Every time you pass acquaintances, it is considered proper 
to salute them. The ladies do this sort of thing very grace- 
fully, but at the same time in such a way that you are puzzled 
to know whether they are merely giving you recognition or 
beckoning to you. They raise the hand till the tips of the fin- 
gers are on a level with their eyes, then they flutter them back- 
wards and forwards, seeming to invite approach rather than 
to give an ordinary salutation ; and their bright, beaming eyes 
add to the illusion. 

The most interesting feature of the day was a group of Indians 
representing the costumes and dances of the aborigines. The 
people found in possession of Yucatan, who fought the early 
Spaniards and were finally subjugated by them, who probably 
built the cities that have been nothing but ruins for centuries, 
were the Mayas (pronounced My-yahs), and were sun-worship- 
pers. It has been stated that no traditions regarding them exist 
among the present inhabitants of Yucatan. The dance that I 
witnessed at the carnival completely refuted this, as will now ap- 
pear. The first thing these Indians did was to spread a banner in 
the centre of the room, on which was painted a figure of the sun, 
with two people kneeling in adoration of that luminary. The 
chief of this band of about twenty Indians then suspended from his 
neck a bright-colored representation of the sun stamped on tin. 
At the foot of the banner-staff crouched an old man, with a drum 
made by stretching the skin of a calf or goat over one end of 
a hollow log. At the side of the drum hung a shell of a land 
tortoise, and the old man beat the drum and rattled the shell in 



54 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

unison. The object with which he beat the drum attracted my 
attention, and I examined it and found it to be the gilded horn 
of a deer. This hollow drum, with turtle-shell and deer's antler, 
fully confirms the statement that the music is aboriginal ; for one 
of the old chroniclers, in an account of a terrible battle with the 
Indians of Campeche, — writing not long after the event, — says 
that they made a most horrible and deafening noise with these 
instruments : " They had flutes and large sea-shells for trumpets, 
and turtle-shells, which they struck with deers' horns." 

After the banner was spread, the band ran around it in a 
crouching attitude ; in one hand each held a rattle, and in the 
other a fan of turkey feathers, with a handle formed by the foot 
and claw of the bird. Each one wore a wire mask, with a 
handkerchief over his head, and a mantle embroidered with 
figures of animals and hung with small sea-shells. The cos- 
tume was that of the Mestiza women, — a skirt from the waist 
to the ankles, with their peculiar dress over it, — just such a one 
as was worn by their ancestors centuries ago, and by the ancient 
Egyptians. On their feet they wore sandals, tied on with 
hempen rope. The chief was distinguished by a high crown 
of peacock feathers. He chanted something in the Maya lan- 
guage, and they replied ; and then the music struck up a weird 
strain and they danced furiously, assuming ludicrous postures, 
yet all having seeming significance, shaking their rattles and 
fans to right and left, and all keeping perfect time. After 
nearly half an hour of dancing they stopped, at a signal from the 
chief, and gathered about the banner, gazing upon the image of 
the sun with looks of adoration. 

This was the dance of sorrow, or supplication ; after it came 
the dance of joy, an Indian fandango; then the flag was furled, 
and the floor occupied by two couples. After this dance was 
finished they all adjourned to the court-yard, where the Consul 
had provided a large jug of aguardiente. Of this they imbibed 
through small tubes of the size of a pipe-stem, which all carried. 
These people kept this thing up four days and nights, dancing 
and drinking all day, yet not one seemed weary and not one 
was drunk. At dark they took their leave, politely thanking us 



YUCATECOS. 



55 



for our attention, and we soon heard them dancing and drum- 
ming in another house near us. 

Those moving in the higher circles of society took their en- 
joyment at night in dancing, and there were two grand balls in 
progress at once. The entrance into the club-room from the 

pi* 




street was 
at once into 
a spacious 
court, where 
great bana- 
nas and plan- 
tains lifted their broad leaves, and 
these were hung with Chinese lanterns. 
About this court were broad corridors, 
with doors opening into the main ball- 
room. The orchestra was at one end, 
under the high stone arches, conven- 
iently near to the bar. As the ladies en- 
tered, they were escorted to seats in the main saloon, a long and 
high, though narrow room, where they sat ranged on both sides. 
They wore every variety of dress, from silk to calico, and, while 
some of the costumes were gorgeous, the majority were neat, 
fresh, and tasteful. The faces of the young ladies were sweet, 
pensive, and very pretty; the blooming complexions, though 
perhaps short-lived, soft and mellow-tinted. 



6f*i 



A COURT 



56 



TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 



The prevailing characteristics, glancing down the line of 
beauties, are large, black, liquid eyes, bright brunette skins, and 
abundant black hair. Notwithstanding a prevailing belief to 
the contrary, I think the girls of tropical climates fully as modest 
in their appearance as their Northern sisters. Their training 
in seclusion has not counted for nothing. Whatever their in- 
most desires may be, outwardly they are as pure as the firmest 
Quaker. They look at the young men demurely, but if gazed 
at they drop their eyes, yet not without showing the delight 




YUCATECAN CALEZA. 



CUBAN VOLANTE. 



a young man's presence causes them. Yet their nature is not 
intense, but warm and indolent. 

Everything here is for the enjoyment of the men, — the parks, 
the promenades, the drives, the cafes, the social life. Poor 
woman is looked upon merely as the Turk regards his mis- 
tress, — as an object to be kept jealously out of sight of the 
stranger, as a toy for the moment's enjoyment. That she rebels 
and repines at her harsh treatment is evident to the observer. 
But heartily do they enjoy the exquisite pleasures of the car- 
nival. Here they can meet their lovers, and most zealously 
do they improve the fleeting hours in the ball-room. It is said 



YUCATECOS. 



57 



that all the engagements are made at this season, and the poor 
lovers have little chance for meeting again, before another carni- 
val, except in the watchful presence of the lady's mother. They 
yield themselves to the sweet abandon of the hour, and float 
through the dances; but they quake inwardly at the thought 
of the scoldings they will get from the lynx-eyed duennas, who 
— now old and ugly — enviously begrudge their daughters these 
little pleasures. 

No people in the world are pleasanter, or possessed of more 
delightful manners, than the Yucatecos, and they might be taken 
as models to be studied with advantage. The Yucatan dance is 
slow and measured, simply a walk-around, and so no one gets 
warm and perspiring. Dance follows dance, until twelve o'clock, 
when the ladies begin to lessen in number, and by one the hall 
is empty. 

Five nights they kept the ball in motion, improving every pre- 
cious hour of the carnival ; and at its ending there were, doubt- 
less, many souls made happy with the thought that they twain 
should some time be one ; while a great many more were dis- 
appointed, and were relegated to another year's imprisonment. 

To the great regret of the people, the carnival finally ended, 
the noise of revelry ceased, all the fair smoritas were safely 
housed in their respective prisons, the lights of the ball-room 
extinguished ; and we walked home to our hammocks beneath 
the glimmer of the serenest of stars, and through an atmosphere 
delicious in its coolness. 



III. 

UXMAL, THE RUINED CITY. 

BURIED in the wildernesses of Yucatan, ruined cities await 
in silence the coming of the traveller, — cities that had 
their birth so far back in the twilight of time that not a tradition 
even remains to tell who built them. Within a radius of one 
hundred miles from Merida are such magnificent ruins as Maya- 
pan, Ake, Chichen-Itza, Kabah, and Labna, and scores of others. 
But none is more interesting than Uxmal, which is also very 
accessible, being within forty miles of the capital, in a straight 
line, and sixty miles by road. At four o'clock in the morning 
after the last ball of the carnival, the Consul woke me. He 
had just returned from the scene of revelry and yet wore his 
official uniform ; but in half an hour he had exchanged this for 
a plainer garb, had packed a small valise with articles for a trip, 
and was ready for an excursion to Uxmal. The morning was 
very cold, the stars were still shining brightly, while the Great 
Bear was crouched away west of the north star, hanging above 
it with his tail in the air. 

The volan came at five, the driver tied valises and gun-cases 
to the axle, and we crawled in and lay down on the mattress. 
Early as it was, there was some life astir, — men wrapped in 
their sarapes, and a cart with women from the country. We 
cleared the city limits before daybreak, passing through the 
gate of San Cristobal, meeting many teams, loaded with wood 
and hemp, with people perched on top under little shelter, all 
shivering with the cold. 

Travelling in Yucatan is attended with some difficulties, 
owing to the heat of day and the bad state of the roads. To 
avoid the heat, all long journeys are performed by night. To 



UXMAL, THE RUINED CITY. 6l 

mitigate the roughness of the road, a peculiar style of vehicle 
is employed, called a volan. This is a Yucatecan conveyance 
sui generis, and not found anywhere else; it might be called 
a modified volante, — in common use in Cuba, — only, instead 
of sitting up in it, you lie down. It has two large wheels, and 
the body of the concern is placed directly above the axle, sus- 
pended upon high, very elastic springs. The shafts are very 
long, and a framework projects behind, upon which trunks may 
be secured, and a bottom of interlaced ropes supports a mattress. 
It has a canvas top, and is always drawn by three mules, — 
one in the shafts and one on either side, — harnessed in by such 
a combination of leather and rope that no stranger could, by 
any possibility, disentangle them. These mules are generally 
very small, but make up for lack of size by the length of their 
ears, which they carry along their backs. 

The sun came up ; the western sky was reddened and the fine 
leaves of the mimosas were gilded by its first rays. The many 
birds that live in the scrub then came out : blackbirds, " chick- 
bulls " or Crotophaga, jays, orioles, and at one place we passed 
the fresh skeleton of an ox covered with vultures, the species 
common in the Southern United States and the West Indies, — 
Cathartes aura and atratus. At nine o'clock, having accom- 
plished two fifths of the journey, we came in sight of the haci- 
enda of Uayalke. We entered the great gate, and our driver 
stopped under a large tree in front of the house, and unhitched 
the mules, as though all belonged to us. This is one of the 
delights of travel in Yucatan : that any hacendado, or owner of a 
hacienda, makes you welcome to his hospitality; there being 
no hotels in the country, this has become a necessity, to which 
they gracefully submit. We ascended the steps and were 
greeted by the mayor-domo, who showed us all over the house 
and ordered breakfast at once, — a charming repast, of tortillas, 
frijoles, eggs, oranges, and chocolate, with a jar of water in 
common. 

This hacienda is a very large one, having thousands of acres 
planted in hemp, with great engines busily at work crushing 
the leaves and rasping the pulp. Great stone corridors sur- 



62 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

round the house, and a broad alameda, or shaded walk, ex- 
tends out to the gardens, passing above the stables. Here a 
score or more of women were drawing water from two deep 
wells, reaching a cenote by an endless chain of bark buckets 
running over a large wheel. They were going and coming in 
endless procession, with large cantaros, or jars, upon their hips'. 
This water serves to irrigate the garden, full of orange trees, 
coffee, and coco palms. Without it, the plain about would be 
a waste ; with it, it blossomed like an oasis, as it was. The 
lime-rock crops up everywhere, and about the orange trees 
brick walls have been built to retain the water. Everywhere are 
high stone and arched gateways, and away on every side stretch 
broad fields of hemp. Everybody seemed cheerful, busy, and 
modest. After we were made welcome the head servants came 
up and saluted each of us, "Buenos dias, senor ! '" and about 
twenty savage-looking fellows, who came in with huge bales of 
grass strapped to their heads, and with long machetes hanging 
at their sides, left their loads and bade us good morning, bowing 
to us gracefully. There was a clock-tower here, and a chapel 
with figures in stone over the door ; a fountain stood in the 
centre of the yard, and orange trees in bloom, full of doves and 
warblers, shaded the corridor. Outside the hacienda walls lay 
scattered curious elliptical huts, with stone walls and thatched 
roofs, the homes of the laborers. 

An hour after leaving this hacienda we reached that of 
Mucuyche, famous for its cenote, or water-cave. There are no 
rivers in Yucatan that flow above ground, and the people are 
wholly dependent upon the clouds for their supply of water, 
and upon the rivers that run beneath the surface. The whole 
province is one vast table of coral rock, beneath which flow 
large streams, and even rivers. These break out at intervals 
into caves and caverns, formed by earthquake and the pres- 
sure of the water, though sometimes the supply is due to the 
infiltration of surface water into natural grottos in the coral 
rock. The Indians, centuries ago, marked the courses of these 
subterranean streams by heaps of stones, and their cities were 
always built near or about the water-caves, as is now shown by 



UXMAL, THE RUINED CITY. 63 

their ruins. These caves, where the rivers appear to the light 
of day, are called cenotes. There are many in Yucatan, and in 
Merida are several, utilized as bathing-places, — most refresh- 
ing resorts in the heat of day: The cenote at Mucuyche is a 
cavern, perhaps forty feet deep, broken down at one side, form- 
ing an arch of limestone with every shape of stalagmite and sta- 
lactite, the roof full of holes, in which were the nests of hundreds 
of swallows and hornets. A flight of stone steps leads from the 
delightful garden above, and some avocado pears and coco palms 
growing at the bottom thrust their crowns above the general 
level of the ground. The water is clear and very deep at the 
east end of the cave, with many fish in it, — "cenote fish," — 
which are said to be blind, like those in the Mammoth Cave. 
Roots of trees hang pendent in clusters, behind which lizards 
and iguanas dart along the ledges ; swallows circle in dense 
masses about the arch, forming a complete ring, and making 
a deafening whirring noise with their wings. The way to the 
cave was past the great front corridor above the cattle-yard, — 
all cattle-yards of Yucatan are in front of, and immediately 
adjoining, the dwellings of the proprietors, — past the well, 
where pretty mestizas were drawing water, and through a 
garden full of orange and lemon trees. 

Our delays made our driver impatient, and he plied the lash 
upon those unhappy mules more furiously, if possible, than be- 
fore, urging them with his tongue, likewise, by shouting, " Mulct ! 
Mulct ! " and clucking so strongly with his lips that I thought 
some of the braces had cracked, and looked out. The cart was 
banged over rocks and into holes, the mules going at a full trot, 
and on level road at a gallop, and our half-reclining position 
was anything but pleasant. 

The vegetation hitherto had been the same, low trees and 
bushes, but the mimosas grew taller as we went on. At one 
point on the road we stopped to examine an Indian mound, and 
found broken sculptures and blocks of limestone scattered about 
through the bushes, indicating that we were in the field of ruins 
to which appertained the great dead city. From its summit 
we looked over a wide extent of plain, flat as a table, with only 



64 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

now and then a large tree and with a single line of hills, blue in 
the distance, ten miles beyond which was our destination. 

In descending, we found ourselves covered with garrapatas, or 
ticks, with which the entire territory of Yucatan abounds. These 
insects are very small, but also very annoying, for no one can 
venture into a wood without being covered with them, and they 
cause a dreadful itching, festering in the wounds. The only 
protection from them that I am aware of is petroleum, with 
which the entire body must be rubbed, and the clothes must be 
changed when coming from the fields. Emerging from the 
miles of woods, we saw a hemp-field, and soon the white gate 
of a hacienda, — a beautiful place, — which we reached at four 
in the afternoon. We intended to go on, but the mayor-domo 
pressed us to stay, and gave us a splendid supper of turtle-soup 
and steak, eggs, frijoles, and tortillas, with claret and honey. A 
garden, every way the equal of that we had visited in the morn- 
ing, surrounded the house, and we walked in its delightful shades 
in the evening. The beehives attracted my attention, they were 
so primitive and so complete, for a tropical country, being merely 
round hollow logs, about two feet long, plastered up at each end 
with mud, and piled up in long rows. They are emptied every 
six weeks. The honey is so fragrant at some seasons as to scent 
the house ; and there is an added charm to bee-keeping in this 
country from the fact that the bees are stingless. At sunset the 
chapel bell sounded for oracion, or evening prayer, and all the 
laborers gathered about with uncovered heads. When it was 
finished, they came to us and wished us " Buenas noches " (good 
night). This delightful custom is in vogue in every portion of 
the country; in Merida, the servants and children never failed 
to give us this salutation of peace, as the last stroke of the bell 
died on the air. 

That evening, in March, 1881, was a glorious one, with a new 
moon, and Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn forming a triangle above 
her. We slept in hammocks in the corridor, and at four next 
morning were out in search of Jose, our driver; at six, after 
waiting a long time for chocolate, we left the hospitable mayor- 
domo, who was complaining of having been kept up after his 



UXMAL, THE RUINED CITY. 



65 



usual hour of retiring, eight o'clock, by some of his people who 
had been off at a fiesta. The hacienda of San Jose is near the 
Sierra, the only line of hills in Yucatan, and here called moun- 
tains. These we climbed easily, sitting in the front of the volan, 
to avoid tipping up the mules, and descended the other slope 
before the sun got hot. The driver urged the mules down hill 
at a furious pace, lashing them all the way, over steep, slippery 




CORRIDOR OF HACIENDA. 



rocks, and along the borders of high cliffs, but when we reached 
level going he pulled them up ! We had been going about two 
hours, when we saw Jose pull out a long black cigar and light 
it. By this sign we knew we were near a town or hacienda, this 
being an invariable custom, as no high-bred driver will appear 
in any village or plantation without a lighted cigar in his mouth 
and driving like mad. Sure enough, the hemp-fields soon hove 

5 



66 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

in sight, and then the hacienda, into the yard of which we rode 
wildly, took out the mules, and carried our traps to the corri- 
dor, — and then asked permission to stop there. The proprietor 
was there, by some good fortune, and gave us the best he had 
at once. Hammocks were assigned us in a large room, our 
mules were stabled, and we were invited to partake of the hos- 
pitality of the hacienda for the week that we intended to stay 
there. It was a mile to the ruins, portions of which we found 
imbedded in the walls of the buildings and the fences. At the 
right hand of the corridor was the veritable " two-headed tiger " 
discovered and unearthed by Stephens, forty years ago, at the 
palace of Uxmal, and brought here by the present proprietor 
for safe-keeping ; and a heap of small idols lay at the foot of a 
palm tree growing near it. 

So much did the proprietor of Uxmal facilitate our prepara- 
tions, that at ten o'clock we had traversed the intervening space 
between the hacienda and the ruins, and were at the base of the 
great pyramid. I do not know whether a writer ought to de- 
scribe his sensations, or merely what he sees, leaving it for the 
reader to imagine what he would have thought and felt had he 
been there ; but it may not be out of place to say that I was 
elated at the prospect of looking for the first time upon these 
magnificent ruins, and that a variety of emotions kept me in a 
state of expectation and pleasurable excitement. We climbed 
up the steep sides of the pyramid, generally known as the Casa 
del Adivino} or "House of the Prophet," and from its summit, 
from the roof of its topmost building, — difficult to reach and 
offering precarious foothold, — a glorious panorama was spread 
before us. 

West, directly below, was the Casa de las Monjas, or " House 
of the Nuns," in its ruins beautiful beyond description ; south, the 
principal building of the group, the " House of the Governor," 



1 Literally, " House of the Soothsayer," or " Diviner," but called " House of the 
Dwarf," from a fanciful legend, related by the natives, that it was built by a savage 
dwarf in a single night. The names of all the buildings are misnomers, their origi- 
nal ones (if they had any) having been forgotten, and replaced by comparatively 
modern appellations by the Spanish invaders. 



UXMAL, THE RUINED CITY. 67' 

or Casa del Gobemador, raised upon its immense terraces, one of 
which also supported the " House of the Turtles" {Casa de las 
Tortugas), with the "Nameless Mound" beyond them all; east 
of south lay the ruins of Casa de la Vieja (the " Old Woman's 
House "), all tumbled about her head ; from south to west cir- 
cled mounds and clusters of ruins, such as the " House of the 
Pigeons " {Casa de las Palomas), and the remains of an extensive 
series of buildings; beyond this city could be seen other ruins, 
perhaps other cities, reaching out in a long line that could be 
traced miles away. 

" The dense wild wood that hid the royal seat, 
The lofty palms that choked the winding street, 
Man's hand hath felled, and now, in day's fair light, 
Uxmal's broad ruins burst upon the sight." 

A great plain surrounded us, smooth and level as the sea, 
with a range of hills circling from northwest to southeast. This 
mound, or pyramid, lying due east from the city, was proba- 
bly used as a place of sacrifice. The rooms of the building 
that forms the apex of the structure are small, and with the pe- 
culiar arch without the keystone, the entire building being about 
seventy feet long and only twelve feet deep. It is rich in sculp- 
ture ; the hieroglyphics on the western part are in a good state 
of preservation, and a certain archaeologist claims to have the 
key to their meaning. The entire pyramid 1 is one hundred and 
five feet high, " not exactly pyramidal," but with rounded sides. 
A staircase, seventy feet wide, one hundred and two feet high, 
and containing ninety steps, climbs the eastern face of the 
structure from the base to the platform. The steps are narrow 
and steep, and we can well believe that when, as the old histo- 
rians relate, the high priest kicked the body of the victim of 
sacrifice from the house of the altar, it fell the whole distance 
of a hundred feet to the ground, — that " it never stopped till 
it came to the bottom." We had much difficulty in getting up, 

1 Norman, who visited Yucatan between the two visits of Stephens, — 1840 and 
1842, — varies slightly in his measurements from the latter author, whose descrip- 
tions I follow in the main ; but his examination was a hasty one, and where there 
is a difference, it will be safer to accept the data furnished by Stephens. 



68 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

and a great deal more in getting down, where a single false step 
would have precipitated us headlong. Waldeck 1 considers this 
a place originally devoted to sacrifices, and says the " Asiatic 
style " is easily recognized in the architecture of this monument. 

By far the finest building of the city, conspicuous alike from 
its position and the completeness of its preservation, is the 
" Royal Palace," the Casa del Gobemador. After the Conjurer's 
Pyramid, this was the next pile visited by us, and made the 
point of departure for subsequent excursions during the five 
days we remained there. It stands upon the topmost of three 
terraces of earth, — once perhaps faced with stone, but now 
crumbled and broken. The lowermost and largest is 575 feet 
long; the second, 545 feet long, 250 wide, and 25 feet high; 
while the third and last is 360 feet in length, 30 in breadth, 
and 19 in height, and supports the building, which has a front 
of 322 feet, with a depth of only 39 and a height of but 25 feet. 
It is entirely of stone without ornament to a height of about ten 
feet, where there is a wide cornice, above which the wall is a 
bewildering maze of beautiful sculpture. The roof was fiat and 
once covered with cement, in the opinion of certain travellers, 
but is now a miniature forest of the indigenous shrubs and 
small trees of Yucatan, — a hanging-garden of Nature's own 
formation, such as she covers every object with, in a few years, 
in this tropical portion of her domain. There are three large 
doorways through the eastern wall, about eight feet square, giv- 
ing entrance into a series of apartments, the largest of which is 
sixty feet long and twenty-seven deep, divided into two rooms 
by a thick wall. The ceiling of each room is a triangular arch 
(such as is figured a little farther on), capped by fiat blocks at 
a height of twenty-three feet above the floor. The latter, like 
the walls and the jambs of the doorways, is of smooth, faced 
stones, that may once have been covered with cement. 

It is impossible to convey in mere words a picture, either in 
general or in detail, of this beautiful building; and hence I sup- 
plement my meagre description with engravings which I have 
procured, knowing that they will speak more eloquently than 

1 Voyage Pittoresqite et Archfologique dans la Province de Yucatan, Paris, 1838. 



UXMAL, THE RUINED CITY. 7 1 

the pen. In them, the intricate details of the sculpture, that 
baffled even the pencil of the accomplished Catherwood, are 
presented clearly at a glance. 

Within a stone's throw of the " Governor's Palace " is a small 
building far gone in ruins, displaying workmanship of great 
skill, and sculpture chaste in design, called the " House of the 
Turtles," — Casa de las Tortugas. It derives its name from 
a row of turtles used as ornaments to the upper cornice. It 
may have served as the kitchen to the royal residence, — accept- 
ing Indian tradition in regard to the names, — but was once 
beautiful enough for a temple. 

If the " Governor's House " claims attention from its con- 
spicuous position and size, the Casa de las Monjas, the so-called 
" House of the Nuns," presents the greatest variety of sculptured 
forms and richest ornaments. It is composed of four buildings, 
the longest of which is 279 feet and about equal in height to the 
palace, enclosing a court 258 feet long and 214 wide. The 
entrance is on the southern side, through a high arched gate- 
way ten feet wide. There are no doors or windows opening on 
the outside, though there are in all eighty-eight apartments 
opening upon the court. 

The facades of this immense quadrangle are ornamented, says 
Stephens, 1 with the richest and most intricate carving known in 
the art of the builders of Uxmal. That portion forming the 
western boundary, at the left as one enters the court, is the 
most wonderful of all ; for its entire length of 173 feet is covered 
by two colossal serpents, whose intertwined bodies enclose a 
puzzling variety of sculptured hieroglyphs. Theory and specu- 
lation do not enter into the plan of this work, or I should 
venture a few remarks upon the personage or deity this great 
serpent is intended to represent. We shall see later on, in Mex- 

1 This traveller, accompanied by the talented Catherwood, visited and described 
the most important ruins of Honduras, Guatemala, Chiapas, and Yucatan, and his 
works, " Incidents of Travel in Central America, Chiapas, and Yucatan," and 
" Incidents of Travel in Yucatan," have been accepted as standard authorities upon 
them. We can hardly travel there without treading in his footsteps, and hence I 
have used his measurements of buildings, and can vouch for the accuracy of his 
descriptions. 



•J2 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

ico, the same feathered or plumed serpent, and cannot help 
recalling the Aztec tradition regarding it. In another decade of 
years it is possible that this grand conception embodied in stone 
by the Indian sculptors will be mutilated beyond repair, as a 
great portion of the wall has already been torn away for build- 
ing purposes. Yuccas and other semi-tropical plants adorn the 
roof of this building, and also the ground in front, rendering 
approach to it somewhat difficult. At the southern end of the 
court the folds of the serpents surround a standing human 
figure, now much mutilated, a subject rarely used in the orna- 
mentation of these buildings. If the drawing by Catherwood, 
made forty years ago, is correct, all the faced stone below the 
figure has been torn away since he was there. The northern 
and eastern facades have been greatly injured since Stephens's 
visit, and most of the grotesque ornaments, the rosettes and 
heads, broken or wrenched entirely away. The hand of man 
proves more ruthless than the hand of time ; and, since the 
exportation of antiquities has been forbidden by the Mexican 
government, it is evident that these stones have been removed 
by the proprietors of Uxmal, or the laborers, for use in their 
dwellings. 

These three structures comprise the principal buildings at 
present in a state of preservation that makes them of interest 
to the general traveller. There are others, even in this group, 
as mentioned in the view from the high mound, but they are 
in such a state of ruin that their original form is obliterated. 

South from Uxmal are the extensive ruins of Kabah, where 
are buildings with fronts of one hundred and fifty feet, and 
lavishly ornamented. Unlike the facades of the buildings of 
Uxmal, which were only decorated above the doorways, those 
of Kabah were " ornamented from their very foundation." 
Stephens also adds : " The cornice running over the doorways, 
tried by the severest rules of art recognized among us, would 
embellish the art of any known era ; and, amid a mass of bar- 
barism, of rude and uncouth conceptions, it stands as an offering 
by American builders worthy of the acceptance of a polished 
people." At Labna the sculpture is profuse, grotesque, and 



UXMAL, THE RUINED CITY. 75 

florid. Of the sixty or seventy ruined cities scattered through- 
out Yucatan, none offers points of greater interest than Uxmal. 
The ruins of Copan, in Honduras, are distinguished for the 
number of idols and altars richly sculptured ; those of Palenque, 
in the State of Chiapas, for the profusion of stucco adornment, 
tablets, bas-reliefs, and statuary ; Uxmal, for the richness of its 
sculptured facades, the magnitude of its buildings, and the chaste- 
ness and beauty of its statuary, judging from the few specimens 
found there. There was recently discovered at Uxmal, by the 
archaeologist, Dr. Le Plongeon, in the summer of 1881, a beau- 
tiful statue, surpassing anything ever found among the ruins of 
Central America. Fearing that, if made known to the govern- 
ment, it would share the fate of his other discovery at Chichen, 
that of Chaacmol, he closed the aperture leading to it ; and this 
fair conception of Indian art was again consigned to the dark- 
ness in which it has rested for centuries. 

Who are the people who built these structures, who lavished 
the work of a lifetime upon their adornment, and who have 
passed away without leaving a memorial (except in undeciphered 
hieroglyphs) of their existence? Various are the theories pro- 
pounded, and presumptuous would he be who would now offer 
one differing from those of the learned men, — who all differ 
among themselves ! Writers seeking to find in the Bible the 
root of the tree of the human family have ascribed these build- 
ings to the Jews, to the Phoenicians, and to the Egyptians. Some 
assign to them a great antiquity, others claim that they are of 
comparatively recent construction. Among the latter is Ste- 
phens, who says, " They were not the work of people who have 
passed away and whose history is lost, but of the same race 
who inhabited the country at the time of the Spanish conquest, 
or of some not very distant progenitors." Yet he admits that 
there are no traditions, (as there should be if his supposition 
were correct,) as in the case of Egypt, Greece, and Rome; and 
this, with many other facts, is in support of the theories of 
Dr. Le Plongeon and other hardy thinkers of later date than 
Stephens, who do not fear to deliver their unshackled opinions. 
The above-quoted writer also thought that perhaps the Toltecs, 



j6 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

when they left Anahuac, came here, some of them, and built 
these cities ; yet again he says, " They claim no affinity with 
the works of any known people, but a distinct, independent, 
and separate existence." ( ! ) 

It will not be permitted for men chained to any particular 
creed, who would fain be the Champollions of the New World, to 
decipher the inscriptions on the walls of these cities. We have 
seen enough of this kind in the work of the Spanish ecclesiastics, 
who perverted history that Indian traditions might conform to 
the views of priests and monks squinting through Papal specta- 
cles. They do not take into account the cumulative evidence 
in favor of an original American civilization, but crawl about, 
groping for some clue that shall lead up to Shem, Ham, and 
Japhet ! 

Many blunders have been committed by writers reasoning 
from false premises ; but the most amusing, perhaps, is one by 
Prescott, who, unfortunately, obliged to avail himself solely of 
the researches of others, was led frequently into blind alleys and 
byways. In writing of the ruins of Uxmal he says, " Another 
evidence of their age is afforded by the circumstance that in 
one of the courts of Uxmal the granite ( ?) pavement, on which 
the figures of tortoises were raised in relief, is worn nearly 
smooth by the feet of the crowds who have passed over it; a 
curious fact, suggesting inferences both in regard to the age 
and population of the place." Now this " granite pavement," 
with its carven tortoises, has never been seen by mortal man, 
although described by the unreliable and wonder-seeking Wal- 
deck. The native historian of Yucatan, Sefior Ancona, calls at- 
tention to this fact, and declares that we are wholly indebted to 
the imagination of Waldeck for this statement : " Estas tortugas, 
expuestas a las piedras de la muchedumbre, solo han existido en 
la imaginacion de Waldeck." It is true that there are many 
sculptures of this kind in Uxmal, but only on the doors and 
on the cornices. 

The Consul and myself fixed our residence in the Casa del 
Gobernador, in the inner room of the great apartment. Some 
beams had once crossed the room, at ten feet or so above the 



UXMAL, THE RUINED CITY. 



77 



stone floor, but they had fallen out centuries ago, leaving only 
the sockets. Into two of these we fitted the ends of a small 
sapling, which our Indian cut, and crossed the space twenty 




THE MAYA ARCH. 



feet beyond with another, and in this manner secured a hanging- 
place for our hammocks. The generous proprietor of the 



y8 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

hacienda had furnished us with an Indian, a pure Maya, de- 
scended, perhaps, from the very builders of this palace, who 
spoke only his native tongue. By signs, and with a few Maya 
sentences the Consul understood, we managed him very well. 
He cleared away the trees and bushes about the walls, so that I 
could photograph them, made our fires night and morning, car- 
ried our apparatus, and made himself much beloved. 

Though we passed several days here, we had few adventures, 
and one will suffice to illustrate how we passed the time in the 
palace of the departed kings. In the morning we went out to 
the aguada, or watering-place, of the ancient city, a small pond 
that may originally have been artificial, but which bears no 
evidence of it now, being surrounded with sedges and water 
plants, and with little islets in it, harbors of refuge for numerous 
coots and gallinules. I shot one of these latter birds, with long, 
slender toes, and strong spurs on its wings, and also some beau- 
tiful yellow-breasted specimens of tyrannus and crimson fly- 
catchers. From the aguada, toward which the surrounding plain 
sloped naturally, covered with a thick growth of low trees, a per- 
fect view was spread out of the entire city, its rear portion show- 
ing what a stupendous monument the giants of those dead and 
gone days had erected. More ponds were scattered about here, 
some shaded by trees, and all welcome as rare sights to greet 
the eyes of one travelling in Eastern Yucatan. 

In crossing a grassy pasture lying in the great quadrangle 
between the buildings, I astonished our Indian guide beyond 
measure by shooting a king vulture, as it flew overhead. I was 
attempting to creep upon it, when it flew ; the Indian, who 
thought then that I had lost all chance of shooting it, was rooted 
to the spot when he saw it fall hurtling through the air, and 
strike the earth at the base of a prostrate pillar of sculptured 
stone. He recovered himself in season to bring me the bird, 
but examined us both attentively; and when he later explained, 
in his guttural language, the whole thing to a group of friends, 
they all regarded me with increased respect. 

The heat of noon was very oppressive, and we passed that 
period in the corridor of our house, admiring the prospect 



UXMAL, THE RUINED CITY. 



79 




"ELEPHANT trunks." 

spread before us from the 
open door. There is one 
feature about the Yucatan ar- 
chitecture that has caused almost 
as much wrangling among archae- 
ologists as the celebrated " calendar 
stone," and that is the " Maya arch," 
made without a keystone. By producing 
a photographic reproduction of that in the 
southern end of the eastern fagade, my readers 
will see at once its shape, its symmetry, and the 
method of formation. Arches exist in all the ruins, 
notably one figured by Stephens at Kabah, which, stand- 
ing solitary in its massiveness, reminded him of the Arch 
of Titus. Another peculiarity of the sculptor's art, also, is 
the so-called " elephant trunk," shown in the photograph of 




80 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

the northwest corner of the palace. Waldeck gives it this 
name, and Stephens, commenting on this, wonders where the 
early architects obtained their pattern, since the elephant is 
not indigenous to America. But the mastodon was ; though 
this item in support of the theory of great antiquity is not 
relished by the seekers after a connecting link with the Old 
World. 

As night came along, away went our faithful Maya, his love 
for us not proving strong enough to induce him to remain in 
the ruins after dark. He was perfectly right, for he could 
quote Indian tradition to the effect that the builders and former 
occupants return at night and seize upon any of their kind found 
within the castle walls. So the Consul and I were left alone, to 
brave the terrors of a night in the damp and lonely ruin. Just 
at sunset we climbed the immense pile known as the " Name- 
less Mound," and, scrambling over loose stones, amongst agave 
and prickly-pear, reached the top, a platform of rough rock, 
with many holes here and there, suggesting caverns of unknown 
depth. We found here shards of pottery, arched openings on 
the north side, and everywhere sculptured stones, in evidence 
that much labor had been expended here. From it one over- 
looks the entire city; and we saw the sun go down, gilding with 
his last rays the Diviner's House on the top of the great pyra- 
mid, and glancing over the walls of the " House of the Nuns," 
and the Pajaros, or " House of Birds." We had seen him in the 
morning, shining full upon the eastern face of this " hill of 
sacrifice " ; and now we attempted to people anew its deserted 
halls with some of the vast multitude that are said to have as- 
sembled before it when a victim was offered to their idols. Re- 
mains of their idol worship lie scattered about the courts and 
over the forest-covered plains, showing that they had a good 
variety of gods ; but whether all at once, or in successive ages, 
who can tell ? 

We descended to our quarters in the casa, and, sticking a can- 
dle up in a bottle and lighting it, prepared for the night. Dark- 
ness completely enveloped us; the cries of the various birds, 
such as jays and ckachalakas, had ceased ; — 



UXMAL, THE RUINED CITY. 8l 

"... the night-eyed insect tribes 
Waked to their portion of the circling hours " ; — 

the stars came out and smiled down on us. 

A flat stone, that had once formed a portion of the wall, 
served as a table, and stones for seats, that had been carved a 
thousand years ago with patient art. Soon the Consul left 
me to my enforced labor of skinning birds, and sought his 
hammock in the inner room, whither I did not follow him till 
well past midnight, sitting up purposely to tempt the ghosts 
and note the noises of the night. They have a charm for me, 
these nocturnal sounds, and many a tropic night I have lain 
awake, beneath rustling palms and waving plantain leaves, striv- 
ing to analyze the myriad voices in the trees. But there were 
few here ; man, beast, and bird seemed to have deserted the 
dead city, and to have left it to silence. 

As I finally rose to retire, a noise like the distant roar of the 
sea came down to me, caused by the hundreds of bats and vam- 
pires swooping through the resounding arch above. Entering 
the inner doorway, with the flaring candle shaded by my hand, 
there stared me in the face the bloody imprint of the red hand, 
that mystery to antiquarians, and the yawning hole, dug by 
some vandal, to satisfy himself the walls were solid. 

The rumors prevailing among the Indians that there were 
tigers lurking in these ruins, and that the sublevados sometimes 
extended their nocturnal raids as far as Uxmal, induced us to 
carry our fire-arms to bed with us, and each had a gun leaning 
against the wall within reach, and a revolver hanging at the 
head of the hammock. 

It was not long after I had extinguished the candle, that 
I was dreaming of Indians, and their natural concomitants, 
murder and bloodshed. That red hand haunted me : an enor- 
mous savage stood by my hammock, with a hand dripping with 
blood which he was about to imprint on my face — when I 
awoke, and found it morning. 



IV. 

A NEW INDUSTRY AND AN OLD MONUMENT. 

THE indigenous product of Yucatan is hemp ; or, to begin 
the subject correctly, and with a due regard for botanical 
nomenclature and local appellation, this so-called "Sisal hemp" 
is not hemp at all, but henequen, the Agave Sisalensis. It has 
a true fibre, possessing such excellent qualities that the demand 
for it is greater than the supply. The chief excellence of the 
plant is, that it requires little soil to grow upon, and springs 
up everywhere from crevices in the great coral ledges that con- 
stitute the surface of the peninsula. 

A great proportion of this territory is covered with dense 
scrub, composed of stunted trees and bushes matted together 
with thorny vines ; beneath this scrub is the rock that even the 
vegetable mould of centuries but thinly covers, owing to the an- 
nual fires that run over the country. A portion of this scrub is 
cleared, — that is, the bushes and trees are cut down and left to 
dry for a season, — and the next year, if the previous one has 
been dry, fire is put to this clearing and the ground opened by 
the laborers, who dig holes in the rocky soil and set out the 
plants. Each clearing is divided into mecates, of about twenty- 
four metres square, and the plants are set out about eight feet 
apart each way, giving from eighty to one hundred plants to 
each mecate. The land is kept clean till the plants are well 
grown and they arrive at maturity, or at a point for profitable 
cutting, in from five to seven years, when the larger leaves are 
four or five feet in length. Each plant yields from twenty to 
thirty leaves annually, for a period of from twelve to .fifteen, 
eighteen, or twenty years ; about a third more in the rainy than 
in the dry season of the year. It is said to require from six 



A NEW INDUSTRY AND AN OLD MONUMENT. 83 

to eight thousand leaves to make a bale weighing four hundred 
pounds. 

When arrived at sufficient size, the leaves are cut, commencing 
at the bottom, and from the field are carried to the " scraping- 
machine," which consists of a large fly-wheel, with strong, blunt 
knives, transversely attached to its periphery. Against these 
knives, carried around on the rapidly revolving wheel, the leaves 
are pressed, one by one, by means of a curved lever, in such a 
way that the pulpy portion is scraped off, leaving the fibre. The 
men (always Indians) feed the machine with astonishing rapid- 
ity, thrusting in first one end of the leaf, and then the other, and 
pressing it between the knives and lever by a motion of the leg. 
Among the poor people the leaves are scraped by hand ; and 
these poor laborers work mostly at night, from evening until 
morning, because the heat of day causes the juice to ferment, 
and irritates the hands, while it also spoils the fibre. Four men 
are required to attend each machine, including those who bring 
the bundles of leaves and carry away the refuse pulp. 

A good scraper will produce a bale of dried fibre per day, 
which comes from the machines in long strips, looking like 
green corn-silk, and is laid in bundles, then carried into the dry- 
ing yard and hung over light poles placed on a framework 
about three feet from the ground. It soon dries, in a hot day in 
three or four hours, when it loses its greenish hue and appears 
white and glossy ; it is then baled by means of hydraulic presses, 
each bale holding from 350 to 450 pounds. As must be ap- 
parent from a consideration of the ease with which this hene- 
quen is raised, from the fact that the plants can be obtained 
wild at little expense, and from another important fact, that little 
care is necessary for the plant after it once begins to yield, here 
is a culture that promises great returns for little outlay. Land 
is cheap, and, when it can be obtained at all, is bought by the 
square league. The principal cost is in clearing it, and for 
machinery; after that succeed only the ordinary expenses of 
carrying on a farm ; — a farm where there is no laborious course 
of preparation each year for the planting of seed, no fatiguing 
hoeing of crops, no long season of winter to provide for ; only 



84 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

the cutting and harvesting of a spontaneous product, by means 
of laborers who receive such ridiculously small daily pay that 
it would not be accepted by a farm hand in the North for the 
work of an hour. Fortunes are made here in henequen, and 
the fortunate owners of haciendas live a life of luxury ; they 
and their children travel and are educated in Europe, and spend 
much of their life abroad. Each hacienda is in charge of a 
mayor-domo, or manager, and the owner rarely lives on his 
estate, which often covers a territory many leagues in extent. 

The amount of hemp, or henequen fibre, shipped from Pro- 
greso, the port of Yucatan, in 1880, was, on the authority of 
the United States Consul, 97,351 bales, weighing 39,501,725 
pounds, and valued at $1,750,000! As the raising of the 
henequen was undertaken in times comparatively recent, — 
within, say, twenty years, — this amount is a very good showing. 
This was shipped in fifty-three steamers and thirty-five sailing- 
vessels, and, of the total amount, 85,000 bales were sent to the 
United States. This industry is rapidly growing, and there is an 
opportunity here for capitalists, it would seem, to spend large 
sums. From the henequen fibre are manufactured numberless 
articles, for the plant has almost as many uses as the palm ; but 
not quite so many as its sister plant of Mexico, the maguey. 

In a little suburb of Merida, called Miraflores, is a factory 
for the manufacture of cordage, coarse cloth, and cables, from 
the raw fibre, which the proprietors 'buy from the Indians and 
the haciendas. Its machinery is very rapid and good, and was 
made in Boston some fifteen years ago. The machines are 
tended by Mestiza girls, who are very neat at their work, going 
about quietly and without even singing or whistling. They are 
said to be very careful and faithful, and they are very modest ; 
and a pretty picture they present, moving about in their white 
skirts among the flying spindles and toothed bands, hardly 
looking up from their labor. 

The Indian makes from the agave fibre many most neces- 
sary articles, — bags in which to carry packages, saddle-cloths, 
sandals, ropes, and twine ; if he wants any of the last, he 
goes into the forest for a wild plant, beats out the filament, 



A NEW INDUSTRY AND AN OLD MONUMENT. 



85 



twists it in a crude but satisfactory way, and is supplied. The 
greatest of all uses to which this filament can be applied is 
the manufacture of hammocks. All Yucatan sleeps in a ham- 
mock, — that is, every individual Yucateco and Yucateca sleeps 
in his or her individual hammock. In many towns in the State 
a bed is unknown. The most respectable, as well as the most 




ARCH OF AKABNA. 



lowly there, are born, live, and die in a hammock. They pass a 
great portion of their waking as well as sleeping hours in them. 
In their manufacture, then, the natives excel, and great numbers 
are made and shipped to New York. It is only the coarser 
variety that reaches the States, for the best ones command here 
higher prices than they could bring in New York, and rarely 



S6 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

leave the country. From ten to fifteen dollars is the price for 
a good woven hemp hammock, and some bring even twenty-five 
and thirty dollars. They are very durable, and endure years of 
wear ; there is as much difference, too, in hammocks as in beds. 
Yucatan has other products than hemp, but that is king. 
Sugar is made in the eastern portions in a limited way, but, as 
the best sugar lands are in the south, and all in possession of 
Indians supposed to be wild, but little is done in this direction. 
Hardly enough vegetables are raised to supply the people, and 
cotton only in small quantities. Regarding the culture of cot- 
ton, I should like to introduce something that I found in an old 
letter-book of the consulate, written by a former acting native 
consul in answer to inquiries from Washington. , 

" The culture of cotton is very little here, and is cultivated only on the 
southern part of this city and in a very small quantity, and grows at the 
extent of twelve feet. No other insect enemies of the cotton plant has 
been found but its worm, and the worm is exactly as mentioned on 
the letter, that is, a great worm with white lines and black dots. Cotton 
worm is always on the cotton leaf, and there is no doubt that this worm 
kills the plant. He does not touch the accorn of the cotton, as he 
remains always on the leaf. The worm has always been in the country, 
as it belongs to the plant. Cotton has been growing here for more than 
twenty years, and it grows wild, but it is inferior to the plant cultivated. 
The prevailing direction of winds, during the months of March, April, 
June, and July, are generally breeze and southeast. Any more informa- 
tion that I may have respecting the cotton worm and the insect enemy 
of the plant I will inform immediately." 

It has been my blessed privilege to inspect several such letter- 
books in various consulates in the south, and the amount of 
information contained in them is not unfrequently equalled by 
their rare humor, especially if the product of alien repre- 
sentatives. 

One morning early we hired a coche and set out to visit the 
estate of Don Alvaro Peon, who had invited us to inspect his 
hemp plantation, and some remarkable ruins situated there. 
It was moonlight when we started, but as we passed the Calle 



A NEW INDUSTRY AND AN OLD MONUMENT. 



*7 



del Elefante, the " Corner of the Dead Duck," and the " Street of 
the Monkey," pale Luna was swallowed up in the stronger light 
of day. Through the grated windows, then being thrown open, 
we got glimpses 
of pretty, brown- 
skinned girls, 
with black hair 
and dark eyes, 
and loose-hung 
uipils, just leav- 
ing their ham- 
mocks. 

On the bor- 
ders of the city 
we encountered 
many mule 
teams, with 
loads of hemp, 
the mules tired 
and the drivers 
sleepy. Some of 
them had come 
from Valladolid, 
one hundred and 
twenty miles dis- 
tant. There were 
also groups of 
Indians with 
great heaps of 
grass on their 
backs, and huge 
bundles of ra- 

mon, or leaves of trees used for forage, and girls and women 
bearing heavy loads on their shoulders supported by bands 
across their foreheads. They, too, were tired, some of them 
having travelled all night. At a distance, the glowing skins of 
these half-naked Indians appeared brick-red in the sun. 




GRASS-SELLER. 



88 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

At noon we had reached the little village of Tixpenal, where 
there are the ruins of a large church surrounded by numerous 
thatched huts. The destruction of this church was due to one 
of the governors of Yucatan, who shot at a vulture on the roof 
and lighted the thatch, the building being destroyed, except 
its massive walls ; these were black with buzzards. With be- 
coming regard for the wants of the people, the governor prom- 
ised to build another church, — but he never did it. As the 
sun grows hot, the vultures, which have been busy about the 
streets and back yards, and roosting on the walls and roofs, are 
seen sailing in circles high in air, one around the other. Be- 
tween their thatched huts and their outbuildings, the Indians 
construct connecting arbors, over which grows a kind of gourd, 
the vine covering them with a thick matting, wholly impervious 
to the sun. So these people live in cool shade, walking about 
in loose cotton garments, with bare feet and legs, and with san- 
dals on, — sandals kept in place by a line between the great toe 
and the next, and wound about the leg above the ankle. 

We reached San Antonio late in the afternoon, and were re- 
ceived in a princely manner by Don Alvaro Peon, the courteous 
proprietor. This gentleman, a splendid specimen of manhood, 
cultured and travelled, is the present representative of an an- 
cient and distinguished family, which estimates its possessions 
by hundreds of square leagues. In going to Uxmal, I had 
ridden all day, a distance of nearly fifty miles, over territory 
once owned by his father. This estate of San Antonio was 
eleven leagues square, and contained twelve hundred acres 
planted with henequen, and many more in process of subjection. 
At about seven, in the cool of the next morning, we left the 
hacienda for the farther one owned by him, Ake, our objective 
point. We rode in the coach the Empress Carlotta used when 
in Yucatan. Don Alvaro was her last escort when. she left Mex- 
ico, and cherishes the memory of her visit as one of the bright- 
est episodes of his life. 

Driving through pleasant lanes, we emerged upon the King's 
Road — el camino real — at the town of Tixkokob. Here are 
made all the cheap hammocks that are sent to the United 



A NEW INDUSTRY AND AN OLD MONUMENT. 89 

States ; every hut we passed had one stretched upon a frame, 
with a woman engaged upon it with deft fingers. Ake, which 
we were then approaching, was the last place visited by 
Stephens, in 1842, in his famous exploration, during which he 
found forty-four ruined cities to describe. As he did not always 
subordinate present comfort to archaeological requirements, he 
left it with a casual glance, and a remark upon the vastness of 
the remains. It remained for a later explorer to describe them 
accurately, and inquire into their meaning. 

After we had despatched a substantial breakfast, in a small 
building used for the entertainment of visitors, Don Alvaro con- 
ducted us to the great mound, the wonder of all who have be- 
held it. It measures, according to Stephens, 225 by 50 feet, 
upon the platform, which supports thirty-six shafts, or columns, 
from fourteen to sixteen feet high. These are approached by 
an immense range of steps, 137 feet long, each step being four 
feet five inches wide by one foot five inches high. Pitching 
my camera in a prickly field of hemp, I took a general view 
of the entire platform with all its pillars, and then, approach- 
ing nearer, a single view of the immense columns, showing 
their structure. 

Now, this great platform and these Titanic columns, what is 
their meaning? Ake, say the historians, was inhabited by In- 
dians at the time of its discovery. A great battle was fought 
here, between the Spaniards under Don Francisco Montejo and 
the Mayas, equally sanguinary with that decisive one on the 
site of Merida, a little later. The early chroniclers also throw 
light upon these columns ; they were intended, not as supports 
for the roof of a temple, not as altars for sacred fires, but 
to serve as a record of the age of the race ! They were called 
katunes (epochs), says Cogolludo, and each stone represents a 
period of twenty years. Every five years, a small stone was 
placed on each corner of the uppermost rock, beginning at the 
eastern side and ending at the southern. When the final cap- 
ping-stone was added, there was great festivity and rejoicing. 
By referring to the photographs here reproduced, the reader will 
note the system of construction, exactly as described by the 



90 



TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 



Spanish writers. But instead of there being eight great stones 
in every column, as they say, there are in some cases nine, and 
even ten. This, however, is of little moment; there may have 
been ten in every column, — probably were, — the topmost one 
of which may have fallen off. Thus the column would be fin- 
ished when an even two hundred years had swung its round, 
and then left to stand forever, as a monument to the people who 
had erected it and as an epoch in the world's great cycle. 




GENERAL VIEW OF AKE\ 



Thirty-six columns, 
each representing 160 
or 200 years, as the case 
may be, carry their 
antiquity back to a 
very early date indeed. 
"There was," says a learned writer, "an undeniable lapse of 
5,760 years from the time the first stone was placed on the 
platform until the place was abandoned ; and we know that this 
very town of Ake was still inhabited at the time of the Spanish 
conquest." Whether this be so, or, as another erudite antiqua- 



A NEW INDUSTRY AND AN OLD MONUMENT. gi 

rian queries, whether " they may have served as symbolical his- 
tory, set up as memorials of past antiquity," they are the work 
of giants, — remains Cyclopean. Immense rocks, that it would 
take many men to lift, ranged pile on pile, by some deluded yet 
painstaking people; yet all this work, this mighty labor, has 
gone for naught ! 

By climbing to the top of one of the columns, one can look 
over the extensive plain for twenty miles ; the little towns in 
the distance betokened by trees of darker green and white walls, 
mounds dotting the landscape in every direction, and the nearer 
pastures overgrown with prickly shrubs. Close by the house, 
built out of the ruins of a former one, are two mounds, one 
with immense flat stones as steps, known as the " House of the 
Priest." The ground is cleared immediately about the house, 
and a flower garden blossoms among dismantled walls, while a 
hemp machine performs its duty close under the shadow of the 
great katunes. Within the circle of older ruins are the remains 
of a Spanish battery, built, probably, after the bloody fight of 
Ake. As this place is used only as a rancho, or cattle farm, no 
improvements are going on, and it is inhabited only by a few 
Indians and the mayor-domo. 

West of the great platform are other mounds, one of which 
contains a stone structure called Akabnd, or dark house. The 
mound was evidently terraced, like the others, many a great 
block remaining in situ. It is now an undistinguishable 
mass of rocks, the central portion having fallen in, and is cov- 
ered with cactus, agave, and wild wood. We descended into 
one of the rooms and started up a vulture, which crawled 
into one of the many holes and hissed at us, at the same 
time emitting a fetid odor. This apartment evidently led into 
another, and the Consul bravely explored the various dark 
retreats, but without succeeding in finding anything of value. 
Here was also the peculiar Maya arch, of ruder form than that 
of Uxmal, more nearly approaching the arch of Palenque, — the 
inner and overlapping stones not being dressed or bevelled ; be- 
sides, there was a further departure, in alternate layers of stone 
and mortar, but with a cap, as in Uxmal, instead of a keystone. 



92 



TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 



In wandering through the pastures, we stumbled into a hole 
and were nearly precipitated into a yawning chasm, which fur- 
ther investigation showed to lead into a cenote about forty feet 
deep and ninety broad, with a little water in it. This was 
about midday, and the air outside was intensely hot, though in 
this cavern it was very cool and refreshing. We found here eight 




THE GREAT KATUNES. 



girls and women, seated on the rocks beside the water, braiding 
hemp. There was one extremely attractive, with light com- 
plexion and an intelligent face. They were not a whit curious, 
as negroes or white people would have been, but took our 
advent quietly, without a laugh or questioning glance. Indeed, 
these Mayas bear evidence by their deportment that they have 
descended from a polite and cultured race. They came here 



A NEW INDUSTRY AND AN OLD MONUMENT. 93 

to this damp cavern to braid their hemp, for use in simple 
articles of domestic manufacture, as the moist air facilitates the 
process. 

We sat awhile in this strange reception hall, while our 
man went for some coco nuts, with the sweet water of which 
we slaked our thirst. A great number of lizards and iguanas 
were running about the ledges, and I shot several that seemed 
new to me. One was a hideous reptile of the saurian type, with 
twelve callosities on his legs, each one of which, our Indian said, 
meant a year. Another, which I also shot with my pistol, had 
a pointed tail, and the Maya was much excited when I went 
to pick it up from the rock where it was still struggling, saying 
that it would throw its tail at me as it expired, inflicting a 
poisonous wound. There was, he said, another lizard that 
would bite your shadow, as you crossed its path, causing you 
terrible pains in the head thereby. These Indians are full of 
superstitions, believing in witchcraft, in avenging spirits, and in 
ghosts, and endowing every kind of creeping thing with some 
supernatural attribute. 

As the sun's rays glanced horizontally along the level fields, 
the mules were harnessed, and we returned to San Antonio, 
leaving behind us those grand, suggestive, yet mute memorials 
of a departed people ; the oldest monuments — that is, of In- 
dians who had approached civilization — that this new country 
can exhibit; the oldest, perhaps, in America. 



V. 

MAYAPAN, THE ANCIENT EMPIRE. 

IN bringing to a close these desultory remarks upon the ruins 
of Yucatan, I am reminded that there yet remain two of 
the most important groups, Mayapan and Chichen-Itza, without 
which the hundred-mile radius around Merida would be incom- 
plete. Mayapan, about thirty miles south of Merida, was the 
seat of the ancient Maya empire, and the city was called El 
Pendon de los Mayas — the banner city of the country — by the 
early Spanish writers on Yucatan. Here, in this ancient city, 
among the ruins of palaces once occupied by native kings, it 
would seem most fitting that we should review, though hastily, 
the aboriginal history of Yucatan, as it has been handed down 
to us. According to the Maya genesis, as interpreted by Span- 
ish priests and monks, the Creator formed the first man of a 
handful of sacate (or grass) and earth; from the latter came his 
flesh and bones, and from the grass his skin and his comely 
appearance. Dwarfs and giants were the first people of this 
portion of the country, and the former, as usual, always got the 
better of the latter. 

The most ancient traditions seem to point to two distinct im- 
migrations into the peninsula; but it is usually conceded that 
there existed, in that portion of Central America where Yucatan, 
Guatemala, and Southern Mexico come together, a great and 
potent theocratic empire. This was in ages past. Successive 
immigrations, from the north and from the south, have swept 
over it, until all distinctive race individuality of the people who 
lived there has been obliterated. The capital city of this empire 
was Xibalba {Hibalba) , thought to be the Palenque of the pres- 
ent day. The tribes coming down from the north, the Nahuatls, 
built another city, which they called Tula, or Tulha, near the 



MAYAPAN, THE ANCIENT EMPIRE. 95 

present town of Ocosingo, in Chiapas. And if we may place 
credence in that perhaps mythical "sacred book" of the Quiches 
called the Ah-Tza, the Itzaes {Ah Tzaes), present inhabitants 
of Peten, are lineal descendants of the dwellers in Xibalba. 
Although traces of three distinct immigrations into Yucatan are 
evident, — the Itzaes, Mayas, and Caribs, — yet they all spoke 
one tongue, the Maya, at the coming of the Spaniards. The 
Itzaes founded cities in the northeastern portion of the penin- 
sula, found in ruins to-day : Chichen-Itza, Itzamel, and T'ho, the 
site of the last occupied by the capital city of Merida. 

In the fifth and sixth centuries the Mayas came, followed by 
the Tutul Xius. The former founded Mayapan, and the latter 
settled themselves in the region of which Uxmal is the centre. 
In the strifes that ensued between the Itzaes and Mayas, the 
latter attained to prominence and ruled the country, while the 
former retired to Chichen. The head of the ruling family was 
one Cocom, from whom descended the princes of Mayapan. The 
increasing importance of the Tutul Xius so alarmed the Maya 
ruler that he imported troops from Tabasco ; but a century 
later the dreaded residents of Uxmal marched upon Mayapan, 
and, after a long and bloody struggle, razed it to the ground. 
About this time the Itzaes, who seem to have been of a more 
peaceful nature, abandoned their city of Chichen and buried 
themselves in the vast forests of Guatemala. We shall meet 
with them again. These events happened in the thirteenth and 
fourteenth centuries. In 1446, it is chronicled, King Cocom of 
Mayapan, with all his sons save one, was murdered by his nobles. 
Less than a century later the Spaniards became lords of the 
peninsula, and found Mayapan in ruins. It had been destroyed 
by the murderers of Cocom. Stephens, who visited Yucatan forty 
years ago, found among the ruins a great circular mound, and 
some sculptured stones, but of their origin and significance he 
was ignorant. It was left for another explorer, Dr. Augustus 
Le Plongeon, to complete the work of investigation. From his 
latest report to the American Antiquarian Society, — yet in 
manuscript when this was written, — the following details of his 
discoveries at Mayapan are gathered. 



96 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

Among the ruins was found a stone, one of the two above 
mentioned, inscribed with characters. Of this a cast was taken, 
and sent to New York. The stone was one metre sixty-two 
centimetres high, and twenty-six centimetres wide. The inscrip- 
tion on it represents the king, Cocom, who was tributary to 
Chaacmol, king of Chichen-Itza, and whose portrait, full-length, 
is on the castle wall of Chichen. Dr. Le Plongeon writes : — 

" Next we will meet him in the reception-room of Queen Kinich- 
Kakmo, the wife and sister of the great King Chaacmol. That king, 
Cocom, is the personage represented on the aula of the castle, in the 
bas-reliefs of the Queen's Chamber, at Chichen, and on the slab found by 
the Abbe Brasseur de Bourbourg, in Mayapan. One has only to look 
at his unique, unmistakable nose, his short stature, and towering hat, to 
become satisfied of the fact of his identity. And then his name, — it is 
symbolized by a little yellow flower, in some cases closed, in others open. 
In the Maya dictionary, cocom is a plant with yellow flowers, from the 
leaves of which, during the feast of Saint John, people make a kind of 
cigar. Cocom was the name of an ancient Maya dynasty, and is still 
preserved as an Indian family name among the natives of Yucatan. By 
the number of feathers in the cap of the king is indicated his exalted 
rank. The man before him holds a scroll, — and this is proven by 
Landa, that they had scrolls, written on large leaves, folded and enclosed 
between two boards. 

When any of the ancient family of Cocom died, the principal lords 
cut off their heads and cooked them, in order to clean the meat from 
the bones, after which they sawed off the hind part of the skull, preserv- 
ing the front with its jaws and teeth. They then replaced the flesh on 
the half-skull with a certain putty, giving them the same appearance they 
had when alive ; they then placed them among their cinerary statues, 
which they had with their idols in their oratorios, and looked upon them 
with great reverence and love." 

On the smaller slab the Doctor found, he says, inscriptions 
that his knowledge of the Maya tongue enabled him to translate, 
which were intended for the God of Fire, represented among the 
Mayas by the same hieroglyph that the Egyptians used for the 
Sun God, and by the emblems of one of the principal gods of 
the Assyrians. On the " GnomOn Mound " of Mayapan there 



MAYAPAN, THE ANCIENT EMPIRE. 



97 



were found two steles, situated about one hundred metres from 
the southwest corner of the principal pyramid (named anciently 
Kukulcan), the first of the kind seen during a long and careful 




HIEROGLYPH OF THE GOD OF FIRE.' 



exploration of the ruined cities of Yucatan. Of them Dr. Le 
Plongeon says : — 

" Following the detours of an obscure trail, we at last reached the foot 
of a small mound, eight metres high, eleven metres fifty centimetres wide 
at the base. The platform (on top), four metres seventy centimetres on 
the north and south sides by three metres on the east and west, sustained 
two perpendicular stelae, forty-five centimetres in diameter and one 
metre high from the floor, which once was perfectly level and paved with 
beautifully hewn slabs of stone. To-day it is covered with ten centimetres 
of loam, the product of three centuries and a half of deposition. The 
distance between the centres of the stelae is one metre seventy centi- 
metres, their orientation as perfect as it could be done to-day with our 
improved instruments." 

By careful measurements, Dr. Le Plongeon arrived at the 
conclusion that the ancient Mayas correctly calculated the true 
declination of the sun ; and he adds that the Maya astronomers 
divided their astronomical year into twelve months of thirty days 

7 



98 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

each, to which they added the five days when they said the sun 
was resting. " Here again we find another point of contact with 
the Egyptians and the Chaldeans." Of course, says the Doctor, 
by noticing the length of the shadows projected by the stelae on 
the smooth floor of the platform, they could know the hour of 
the day; at night — as the Indians do even to-day — they could 
tell the time quite accurately by observing the courses of the 
stars. By placing a style, or any narrow object, on the top of 
the columns so as to rest on the centres, and noticing when its 
shadow fell perpendicularly on the platform, and covered exactly 
the line they had traced for that purpose between the stelse, 
they knew when the sun passed their zenith, which phenomenon 
occurs twice every year, in March and July. 

The Doctor remarks that he has adopted the use of the metric 
standard of linear measure as much from necessity as from 
choice, and from " the strange discovery that the metre is the 
only measure of dimension which agrees with that adopted 
by these most ancient artists and architects." The explorer 
continues : — 

" We cannot suppose that the gnomon was built at random ; that the 
diameter of the stelse and the distance they are placed from one another 

are wholly fortuitous Judging of past humanity by the present, we 

must of necessity agree that these diameters and this distance of the cen- 
tres are the result of accurate calculations and knowledge I have 

taken for granted that they knew when the sun had reached the tropics, 
and therefore its greatest declination, — 23 27', — because the days that 
the declination does not vary they called by a name signifying, according 
to Pio Perez, 1 the bed or place where the sun rests. 

" To sum up : These builders seem tc have taken as bases for their 
calculation the latitude of the place and the declination of the sun when 
at his resting-place, — as they called the solstitial points. That this 
manner of computing time was used by the primitive inhabitants of the 
great metropolis, Chichen-Itza, or by those who dwelt in it when at 
the height of its splendor, when scholars flocked from all parts of the 
world to consult its wise men, is more than at present we can positively 
know 

1 "Maya Chronology," by Senor Don Juan Pio Perez, first published in the 
Appendix to Stephens's "Incidents of Travel in Yucatan." 



MAYAPAN, THE ANCIENT EMPIRE. IOI 

" We know that in the most remote times they represented the God- 
head under the symbol of the mastodon-head. Notwithstanding their 
great respect for the memory of their ancestors, so strongly inculcated 
that even to-day they would not fail to prepare the hanal pixan — the 
food of the souls — and offer it in peculiar places on All-Saints' day, in 
after ages this emblem — the mastodon-head — became replaced by that 
of the winged serpent, Kukulcan, or Ahi, even in the city of the holy 
and wise men, the Itzaes ; whilst in Uxmal and other places, where in 
time the Nahautl religion prevailed, the phallic emblems were coupled 
with those of the sun, the fire, and the mastodon-head. 

" The monuments of these people also show the changes which have 
taken place in the architectural taste in consequence of alteration in the 
customs and in the ideas and in the mode of life of the people, caused 
perhaps by immigrations and invasions, — probably by commercial inter- 
course and frequent communication by sea and land with the neighboring 
nations. The ornamentation of the edifices also tells us of the progress 
of the artists in drawing and sculpture. 

" The great mound of Mayapan, which reveals such perfect mathe- 
matical symmetry in all its parts, shows that the Maya architects were as 
well acquainted with the rules of trigonometry as their friends the astron- 
omers. It will call to mind that oldest structure of the plains of Chaldea, 
— the graduated towers so characteristic of Babylonia, of which the 
oldest type known in history is the tower of Babel, — and on its top 
the priests of the Mayas, as the Magi, elevated above the mists of the 
plain below, could track through the cloudless sky the movements of 
the stars ; instead of cutting out there the hearts of human victims, as 
a celebrated author suggests 

" This mound, now very dilapidated, is an oblong, truncated pyramid, 
measuring on the north and west sides at the base thirty-two metres, 
and fourteen metres on top ; on the east and west sides at the base 
twenty-seven metres, and ten metres on top. On the four faces stairways 
are cut of sixty steps, each twenty-five centimetres high ; it appears as 
if composed of seven superposed platforms, all of the same height, — one 
metre seventy centimetres, — each one being smaller than the one imme- 
diately below. Throughout Yucatan seven seems to have been the mystic 
number, as among other ancient nations. In the plains of Babylon there 
were no stones, and the builders of the ' temple of the seven lights ' made 
the core of the structure with sun-dried clay, and the facings with hard- 
burnt bricks. In Yucatan, where there is no clay, but stones, the core 



102 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

is found of loose stones with blocks of the same material carefully hewn 
for the facing. The mode of building, however, was identical among 
the Mayas and the Chaldeans. Again, there is shown an identity of ideas 
in the artists who decorated the walls at Chichen-Itza and Babylon." 

In his essay on the language of the Mayas, Dr. Le Plongeon 
stated that they employed many words and names common to 
all, or nearly all, the ancient languages of which we have knowl- 
edge ; that they used letters and characters belonging to the 
most ancient Chaldaic alphabet ; and their mode of writing, in 
squares, was similar to that of the Babylonians. He adds : — 

" So also we see that their architecture partakes of that of the Egyp- 
tians and the Babylonians, besides having a style that belongs to none of 
these ancient nations. That they had 'perpendicular' pyramids, with 
their faces to the cardinal points, like the Egyptians, the mound of Maya- 
pan proves. But the great mound situated on the north side of the 
principal square of Izamal, on the top of which used to be a temple 
dedicated to Kinich-Kakmo, the queen of Chichen, is an oblique pyra- 
mid, the very counterpart of the ' Temple of the Moon ' at Mugheir." 

The curious reader may find the gist of the preceding state- 
ments regarding the civilization of the Mayas in Landa's in- 
teresting book, Relacion de las Cosas de Yucatan. Even though 
we may not accept the conclusions of this intrepid explorer, 
" that the cradle of the world's civilization is this continent on 
which we live," we must assign to the Maya people an elevated 
rank among the civilized nations of the world, and great antiquity. 

We might note, before leaving Mayapan, that, according to 
Cogolludo (an old historian, writing in 1655), all the nobles of 
the country had houses in that city before its destruction, and 
were exempted from tribute. But now, he says, " these nobles, 
the descendants of Tutul Xiu, who was the king and natural 
lord, if they do not work with their own hands, have nothing 
to eat." 

Directly east of Merida, connected by a great high-road, is 
Izamal, the ancient Itzamal of the Itzaes, founded by them first 
of any city in the peninsula. Itzamna is the first person men- 
tioned in the annals of the peninsula, a hero apotheosized, 



MAYAPAN, THE ANCIENT EMPIRE. 



I03 



and a great leader in the first Itza invasion. " In the centre of 
a region of waters " they built a city called Itzamal, and here 
they established the worship of Zamna, consisting of the offerings 
of flowers and fruit. To this religious centre flocked pilgrims 
by thousands, and it is thought that the gigantic head of stucco, 
to-day seen in the city of Izamal, was the object of their idolatry. 




GIGANTIC HEAD. 



The city itself is quiet, and a desirable place of residence. One 
of its other attractions is an immense mound, supposed to have 
been the foundation for an ancient temple ; and a paved road is 
said to lead from this place to the ruins of Tulum. As early as 
1549, the Indians, under Spanish guidance, erected here the 
celebrated monastery of San Antonio. 



104 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

Continuing on from Izamal, bending our course southward, 
we shall eventually reach the attractive though unfortunate city 
of Valladolid, thirty-seven leagues distant from Merida. It is 
celebrated as the first city in which a cotton-mill was erected 
in Yucatan, in 1834, but has a melancholy interest from its 
almost complete destruction in the revolution of the Indians, 
in 1847. 

This great uprising of the indigenous race had its origin in 
the period of independence, in 1821, when Mexico separated 
from Spain. In Yucatan, as in Mexico, the large landed pro- 
prietors were opposed to separation from the mother country, 
while the bulk of the population, who owned no property, were 
in favor of it. The question later arose of an amalgamation 
with Mexico, which gave rise to two parties, — for and against. 
Both invoked aid from the Indians, — the raza indigent*, — and 
placed arms in their hands, and filled their ears with promises. 
After the struggle was over and the Mexicans expelled, the 
Indians were dismissed to their homes in the eastern portion 
of the peninsula. All the promises made them were evaded, 
and so they returned sullen and empty-handed — except that 
they kept the arms — and later used them ! 

In 1846 local politics ran high between the provinces of 
Merida and Campeche, and they came to blows. It was the 
Indians' opportunity ; everywhere, in the east, there was a great 
uprising. The eastern coast was swept with fire and sword. 
Valladolid, a city of 12,000 inhabitants, and Tekax, with 5,000, 
were completely abandoned ; and gradually all northern, east- 
ern, and southeastern Yucatan seemed to be returning to its 
primitive owners. The indigenous people ravaged the country, 
burning, pillaging, murdering, until the whites were panic- 
stricken and fled towards the coast. The red men recollected 
the centuries of wrong they had endured, and vowed to wage 
against the white race a war of extermination. The Creole 
population of Yucatan appealed for aid to the United States, to 
Mexico, and to Spain. At last, Mexico, having concluded its 
war with the United States, sent succor, and very gradually the 
rebels — the sublevados — were driven back. But it was years 



MAYAPAN, THE ANCIENT EMPIRE. 107 

before the country breathed of peace, and even now thousands 
of square miles are desolate, and hundreds of towns lie in ruins. 
By this act of calling in aid from Mexico, Yucatan lost her 
autonomy, and soon after became one of the confederated states 
of the republic. Valladolid has never recovered from its terri- 
ble injuries; although, from its geographical position, and the 
vast unoccupied country of which it is the centre, it is destined 
to become again prosperous and populous. 

Lying west from Valladolid, about thirty miles, is the largest, 
and next to Uxmal the most important, group of ruins in Yuca- 
tan, that of Chichen-Itza. The ruined structures occupy an 
area of about two miles, and a high-road passes near them. 
They are accurately described in various writings, so that I will 
not do more than enumerate them here. Of these ruins, the 
most magnificent pile is the " House of the Nuns," very rich in 
sculpture, while the " Carcel," or "Tower," is the grandest and 
most conspicuous object in Chichen. The " Gymnasium " con- 
tains great stone rings set in the wall, four feet in diameter, and 
with a sculptured border of serpents. The hieroglyphic carvings 
are wonderful and beautiful, and the mural paintings, represent- 
ing warriors in battle and events in the lives of the various 
rulers of Chichen, are artistic in execution, and the finest that 
adorn the walls of any buildings yet discovered. A procession of 
lynxes, or tigers, adorns the cornice of one building, while sculp- 
tured slabs and pillars are scattered profusely over the ground. 

This was the ancient capital of the Itzaes, after they had been 
driven from Itzamal and before they sought seclusion in Peten. 
Various attempts have been made to reconstruct their history, 
from the scattered fragments left by tradition and from the 
mural paintings and hieroglyphs, but as yet with little success. 
Although Stephens gives an exhaustive description of Chichen, 
yet Norman 1 claims to be the first visitor from a foreign country 
to describe it from personal observation. " No marks," he says, 
" of human footsteps, no signs of previous visitors, were discov- 
erable ; nor is there good reason to believe that any person, 
whose testimony of the past has been given to the world, had 
1 "Rambles in Yucatan," New York, 1843. 



I08 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

ever before broken the silence which reigns over these sacred 
tombs of a departed civilization." 

It is known, however, that a portion of Montejo's army 
marched through here, and found the great buildings a secure 
defence against the assailing Indians, in the first invasion. 

For seven years, that energetic archaeologist, Le Plongeon, 
has studied the hieroglyphs of Yucatan. A linguist of no mean 
attainments, adding to a knowledge of modern languages an 
acquaintance with the Maya, the native tongue of the peninsula, 
he has had unusual success in his work. It is to him that the 
world owes the bringing to the light of the beautiful statue 
of Chaacmol, now in the Mexican Museum. This monolith, 
" Chaacmol, the Tiger-King," was unearthed by Dr. Le Plongeon 
at Chichen, in the midst of a dense forest, eight metres below the 
surface; — found by his powers of divination, the Indians say; 
but by his knowledge of the hieroglyphs, the Doctor says, on 
the walls of the near buildings. By almost superhuman exer- 
tions, the Doctor raised the great statue, which is over nine feet 
in length, from its burial-place, — the story of its exhumation 
reads like romance, but the photographs, taken at successive 
stages of the work, substantiate the narrative in every particular, 
— and transported it to what he thought was a place of safety. 1 
Alas for his calculations, and for the scientists of the United 
States ! While he was absent, exploring the islands of Cozumel 
and Mujeres, his precious discovery was seized by the Mexican 
government and carried to Mexico. 

Of the mural paintings of Chichen, the most beautiful and 
unique in America, the Doctor and his wife have an extensive 
series of tracings, which I was fortunate enough to be allowed to 
examine in Merida. Chichen, though only one hundred miles 
from the capital, is considered rather unsafe at present, owing 
to its being within the territory of the unconquered Indians, and 
an escort of soldiers is needed for the last thirty miles of the 
journey, and while among the ruins. 

1 " The reports of his discoveries seem at first wellnigh fabulous, though their 
authenticity is so well attested as to leave no room for doubt." — John T. Short, 
"The North Americans of Antiquity." 



MAYAPAN, THE ANCIENT EMPIRE. 



IO9 



It is to be hoped that, when Dr. Le Plongeon shall have com- 
pleted his explorations, he will give to the world a connected 
account of his discoveries, embellished with his photographs 
and enlivened with the sparkling descriptions of his talented 
and devoted wife. At present, we are indebted to the Ameri- 
can Antiquarian Society 1 for several valuable illustrated papers 
on these investigations, and especially to the scholarly editor, 
Mr. Stephen Salisbury, Jr., through whose liberality and un- 
wearied exertions they were published. 

The predominant character of these Maya structures, says 
the historian of Yucatan, Senor Ancona, is that all are built 
upon an artificial ele- 
vation ; a pyramid or 
truncate cone sup- 
porting a building 
more or less vast and 
grand. The walls are 
generally of great 
thickness, many are 
faced on the exterior 
with carved stone, 
and many also pre- 
sent a rich profusion 
of adornments, sculp- 
tured in bas-relief 
upon their faces. 

Busts and human heads, figures of animals, and hieroglyphics — 
which nobody has yet been able to decipher — constitute in gen- 
eral these adornments. The finest workmanship is displayed in 
broad and elevated cornices ; and the spectator does not know 
which most to admire in the artist, — the prodigious number of 
small pieces with which he composed the work, or the beauty 
and accuracy to nature of the scenes represented. The doors 
are generally low and the lintels of wood, some richly sculptured. 

1 For detailed descriptions see " The Mayas, the Sources of their History," 1877 ; 
"Maya Aachasology," 1879; etc. Proceedings of the American Antiquarian 
Society, Worcester, Mass. 




CHAACMOL. 



HO TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

The ceiling is formed by the peculiar American arch, and owing 
to their construction not much breadth can be got, but great 
length. 

Most of these ruined cities have remained in the silence and 
obscurity of the wildernesses in which they are immured, ever 
since the traveller Stephens visited them, more than forty years 
ago. Kabah, especially, has not had a white visitor, it is said, 
since that time, until within two years. In June, 1881, this 
group was visited by the United States Consul, Mr. Louis H. 
Ayme, his wife, and Mr. Porter C. Bliss, assistant editor of John- 
son's Cyclopaedia. Mr. Ayme is an enthusiastic explorer, who is 
indefatigable in his search after objects of interest to the anti- 
quarians of America. Owing to his exertions, there was brought 
to light an object that had escaped the attention of all previous 
explorers. It was a rude painting of " a man mounted on 
horseback." This important discovery was made by Mr. Ayme 
on June 16th, 1881 ; and it gives me pleasure to chronicle such 
a " find " by such a genial gentleman, who was so helpful to me 
in Yucatan, and who, in company with Mr. Bliss, rode nearly 
a thousand miles with me, later, in Southern Mexico. 

At a later period, Mr. Ayme again visited Kabah, this time 
in company with the distinguished archaeologist, M. Desiree 
Charnay, who immediately pronounced it a wonderful discovery, 
and praised his companion highly. He, M. Charnay, declared 
it to be " a figure of a Spanish horseman, with his cuirass, and 
prancing on a fiery steed"; and claimed that his theory — that 
these ruins have not a great antiquity — was proved completely ! 
Dr. Le Plongeon, however, who claims for the ruined cities of 
Yucatan that they were hoary with the weight of years when 
the Parthenon was built, would fain induce us to believe that 
this picture is a portrait of an ancient worthy named Can, who 
flourished many centuries agone. In fine, one archaeologist 
" proves " from the same mural painting, that these ruins are less 
than one thousand years old, while the other is equally certain 
they have an antiquity of at least ten thousand years ! 

Readers of the North American Review for the past few years 
cannot fail to have noticed that M. Charnay started on his 



MAYAPAN, THE ANCIENT EMPIRE. 



Ill 



explorations in Central America with preconceived notions as 
to the age and builders of these cities ; and he has ingeniously 
twisted every discovery into a " proof" in favor of his pet the- 
ory ; which unfortunate manner of working vitiates all the labor 
heretofore done. 




VI. 



A GRAND TURKEY HUNT. 

" With us ther was a Doctor of Physike, 
In all this world ne was ther won him like 
To speak of physike, and of surgerie." 

IT was drawing near the close of my stay in Yucatan, and 
there was but a week remaining; but the Consul had 
planned one last trip into the country that should eclipse all 
previous expeditions. He promised to take me on a grand 
turkey hunt. The magnificent turkey of Yucatan, the Meleagris 
ocellatus, is found only there and in Honduras and Guatemala. 
It is the most beautiful of the whole family. Though there are 
three species in North America, one peculiar to the United 
States and another to Mexico, and though our species is the 
largest, the ocellated turkey of Yucatan surpasses them all in 
the metallic sheen and lustre of its plumage. It was to capture 
this glorious bird, then, that this final journey in Yucatan was 
undertaken. 

At eleven o'clock at night, our volan drove up to the door, 
and the Consul, and John, myself, and another man, crawled 
into it and wedged ourselves together The reader does n't 
know John, but I do ; and that is where I have the advantage of 
the reader. John was a dentist, one of the few practitioners 
of the bloody art of dentistry who could draw a tooth without 
gloating over the misery he caused. In token that we appre- 
ciated this manly quality of his gentle nature, we took him along 
to let him see us shoot turkeys. 

"Alerta!" the watch-cry of the sentinel pacing in front of 
the municipal palace, rang clear on the midnight air, as we 
climbed into our volan. 



A GRAND TURKEY HUNT. 



113 



" Who goes there?" shouted another sentinel at the city gate, 
as we dashed beneath its arched portal and sped away into 
the country. 

" Amigos ! " was our reply, and, settling ourselves snugly on 
the mattress, we prepared for sleep. 

We set out on our journey at midnight. The heat of day in 
Yucatan is so great that all travel is done by night. 

" Now, Jose," said the Consul, " put the mules to their best, 
because we have sixty miles to do before to-morrow noon." 




THE VOLAN-COCHE. 



" Si, sefior," replied Jose, and then he stood out on the dash- 
board and plied the whip till the speeding mules were hidden 
in a cloud of dust. 

Stretching ourselves on our bed, we almost immediately went 
to sleep, Jose's cries of" Moola, moo la ! koo, hoo, hoo /" acting 
as a lullaby. 

A volan is intended for only two persons, who lie extended 
upon the mattress, and take refreshing naps as they are driven 



114 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

along. But we four had to double ourselves up, resting our 
chins on our knees ; a revolver was pressed against my spine, a 
small bird-gun tangled up with my legs, and all the legs of our 
trousers crawled up above our knees, where they remained in 
uncomfortable wads. We finally got to sleep, however, leaving 
the driver whooping and yelling at the mules, just as we hove in 
sight of the white walls of a hacienda. Even though the posi- 
tion was uncomfortable, it was pleasant to reflect that the volan 
would be going all the time we were sleeping, and our journey 
of sixty miles would be so much shorter when we awoke. 

It might have been three hours later that we were awakened 
by loud cursing and howling, and, looking out of the volan, saw 
Senor Acosta, our companero, by the side of the road, thrashing 
the driver. Having walloped him to his heart's content, he 
crawled back among us and explained that, while we were in- 
dulging in a nap, the driver also had taken one ; and, if we 
would look out, we should see the same hacienda that was in 
sight before we closed our eyes. This was discouraging, but 
we took it out of the mules and the driver, from there on, by 
taking watch and watch. At three in the morning we drove 
into the silent, deserted square of a village. All the houses were 
closed, of course, but the mules were taken out and given a re- 
freshing change ; that is, the inside mule was put on the outside. 
A long row of buildings was in front of us, and our driver com- 
menced at one end and pounded at every door till he reached 
the farther end ; then he began again and went down the whole 
row, till the last of them was opened. I inquired what was the 
matter, and, being told that one of the cart-wheels was twisted, 
supposed they were stopping for something to remedy the 
twist ; but, after we all had been invited in and had a drink of 
habanero, we went on again, as before. 

It was yet dark, though the road was fairly crowded with 
Indians going to Merida to market, some of whom had come 
from a distance of thirty or forty miles, staggering beneath 
heavy loads of grass, vegetables, and charcoal. Passing another 
volan, our driver raced with it, each man standing out on the 
shafts and encouraging the jaded mules with loud yells and 



A GRAND TURKEY HUNT. 



"5 



repeated applications of a raw-hide thong. We finally passed 
the other volan, but a sudden pulling up of the mules caused us 
all to look out, when we saw that we had run into a party of 
Indians, and unhorsed a woman, who picked herself up out of 
the dust and limped to the roadside, sullenly and without a 
word, while her terrified steed dashed away out of sight. Then 
we went on again, furiously, 
and at daylight were enter- 
ing the street of an inland 
town called Motul, ten 
leagues from Merida. Al- 
ready many people were in 
the street, and we entered 
a house and got a cup of 
chocolate, after which John 
and I visited the cathe- 
dral, built in 165 1. The 
altar was nearly stripped of 
ornaments, but there yet 
remained two massive can- 
delabra of solid silver. 

A mile from the plaza, 
we came to the famous ce- 
note of Motul, one of those 
used by the aborigines of 
Yucatan. It is the deepest 
hereabouts, and the water 
can only be seen by look- 
ing down a deep well ; but 
there is an entrance by a larger hole, through which you reach 
a great chamber, very dark and gloomy, and swarming with 
bats and lizards. Undressing in this chamber, you enter the 
water, the glimmer of which is visible by going in some ways, 
and swim towards the light, then, by diving under a ledge that 
falls from the roof above nearly to the surface, you find yourself 
in the circular opening some sixty feet beneath the surface of 
the earth. It is not a pleasant place to bathe in at all, but it is 




ramon seller ( Vendedor de Ra?noft). 



Il6 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

cool and dark, and in refreshing contrast to the glare and heat 
outside. 

A strange bird lives in these cenotes, called the " Toh," a 
species of Momotus. He is about a foot in length, with fine 
silky feathers and a very curious tail. It is formed of two long 
feathers, which are stripped nearly to their tip, only the naked 
shafts remaining. 

A friend, Professor George Gaumer, who has spent two years 
in Yucatan, says that he has often found the cenotes swarming 
with alligators at times, when at others not one could be found. 
From this he very reasonably infers an underground connec- 
tion with large bodies of water by subterranean rivers. 

There is said to be a cenote in the town of Tabi, in the centre 
of which, at midday, when the sun is perpendicularly above the 
water, there appears the image of a most beautiful palm tree. 
Near Tikoh is another, into which, says Cogolludo, writing in 
1655, if any one enters without holding his breath, he dies 
instantly; therefore, none are desirous of bathing in it. In 
breathing, or making any other noise, they say the commotion 
of the water is excessive, and that the noise poisons the water, 
and that it has caused the death of many Indians while drawing 
water from it. 

Another writer mentions another cenote, one of the largest 
in the peninsula, in the centre of the public square of the village 
of Telchaquillo. At a distance " the square seemed level and 
unbroken ; but women walking across with cantaros, or water- 
jars, on their heads, suddenly disappeared, and others seemed 
to rise up out of the earth." 

There are many palm trees about Motul, and pawpaws, and 
other tropical plants. The flowers are profuse and beautiful, 
and the Mestiza girls as lovely as they can be. Yet we did not 
tarry long, but drove on, after a breakfast and a nap, through 
a fertile country of Sisal hemp and corn, to the next town. 
Driving rapidly over a good road, we entered the unending 
scrub plains of Yucatan. We passed a great many Indians, 
mostly women, and mostly more or less inebriated; not vio- 
lently drunk, but enough to make them happy and smiling. 



A GRAND TURKEY HUNT. H7 

At two o'clock we drove into the large open square of Can- 
sahcab, a neat little town, mostly of thatched houses, containing 
the best-preserved church and presbytery in the State. The 
meaning of the name of this town, which is Indian, is, that you 
may hunt a long time for water and not find it. This the Con- 
sul proved to be true, for he looked everywhere for a drink, but 
came back to us without having found it. As it was in the 
heat of the day, everybody was in his hammock, and every 
house was closed. Great flocks of blackbirds were in the 
square, the only living things in sight. The number of birds 
about these Indian villages, and their tameness, speak well for 
the gentle nature of the inhabitants. 

Though we had but twelve miles farther to go, it would not do 
to pass through the town without seeing the head man ; so we 
waited while he was sent for. After an hour, he came gallop- 
ing in from his hacienda, — a great, good-looking, sensible man, 
of about fifty, in loose shirt, drawers, and sandals. He was 
delighted to see us, and ordered beer and refreshments at once, 
declared that we were going no farther that day, and turned our 
mules directly into his enclosure. This is the way they travel 
throughout Yucatan, — two or three hours on the road, and six 
or eight in drinking and chatting. Our host, General Theodosio 
Canto, was one of the famous men of the State. He has served 
a short term as Governor, and is the greatest man, the chief, of 
this portion of Yucatan. He has headed several revolutions, 
fighting long and obstinately. A long scar over his eye shows 
where he was terribly cut in one fight, when, also, his nose was 
nearly severed, and he was left on the field ; yet he was out and 
fighting again two weeks afterward. He says that the blood he 
had in him then flowed out, and what he has now is all new. 

The General told us that his town was seldom honored with 
such distinguished visitors as we, and that night he would give 
us a grand Mestiza ball. After an early dinner we went with the 
General and invited all the young ladies to the ball : the old ones 
and the men and boys were sure to come without asking. These 
young ladies had rather short notice, but then they had but little 
preparation to make, for they wear generally but two garments. 



Il8 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

They have only to change the over and under skirt, dust a little 
powder over their arms and shoulders, dab a little rouge here 
and there, and hang on all the chains and jewelry they own, and 
then they are ready for anything. 

At eight o'clock the village band came to escort us to the 
Casa Municipal, or the city hall, the corridor of which (one 
hundred feet long) had been swept, and decorated with palm 
branches. A great throng followed us, letting off rockets and 
fire-crackers, and in this way we were escorted to the scene of 
festivity. As we arrived, the crowd about the por tales parted 
right and left, and we were conducted to the seats of honor. 
The sight that greeted our eyes nearly took our breath away; 
for there, ranged in chairs along the wall, was a row of the pret- 
tiest Mestiza girls we had ever seen. They were dressed in their 
becoming costume of snowy white, and some of them fairly 
glittering in gold chains and ornaments. The ancient national 
costume of the Mayas, from whom these Indians are descended, 
was, for the women, two skirts of fine white linen : the under 
skirt reaches from the waist to the ground, and is called pic ; 
the upper, called uipil, falls from the shoulders, over the lower, 
to the knees. These are embroidered in gay colors, and often 
edged with lace. According to an ancient law, there should be 
no button or fastening on the uipil, and it is cut square, very 
low in the neck and back, so that it can be slipped over the 
head, and worn without any fastening. As a race, these people 
are symmetrically shaped, and the loose dress of the females 
sets off their beautiful shoulders to great advantage. About fifty 
of these lovely damsels sat awaiting our arrival. From among 
these the General, John, and the Consul selected partners, and 
were soon treading the light fantastic toe. I did not dance, and 
sat solitary in a secluded corner, enjoying the bright scene : the 
long, broad corridor lit with torches, the dark masses of In- 
dians hemming us in, and the senoritas and caballeros in their 
gay costumes. 

An old man, who had fixed his eyes on me some time previ- 
ously, approached and asked me if I would not sit by his daugh- 
ter and talk English to her. She was a sweet, blooming damsel, 



A GRAND TURKEY HUNT. 



II 9 



fair to look upon, in sooth, and I had not the heart to refuse 
such a reasonable request; so I went as directed, and opened a 
conversation. 




MESTIZO AND MESTIZA. 



Soon I noticed that, though she paid the closest attention, 
and nodded her pretty head and winked her lovely eyes at 
intervals, still she made no replies, save Si, senor, and No, 
senor, and not always bringing these in at the right place. Then 



120 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

it dawned upon me that my aged friend was playing a game on 
me by getting me to talk English to a girl who did n't under- 
stand one word of the language. But when I expostulated with 
him, he replied, innocently and in good faith, that his daughter 
could not speak English certainly, and, moreover, she had never 
heard it spoken before, nor had any other of the young ladies 
in the room ; but he hoped I would not refuse to gratify her 
curiosity to hear it. And just then the blushing beauty smiled 
bewitchingly, and said that she understood my English very 
well, and that the old man could just go along about his busi- 
ness, or words to that effect. 

Well, we talked English together for quite a while, though 
it was a rather one-sided conversation, for she could only un- 
derstand Spanish and Maya. Pretty soon the other girls wanted 
to talk English, too, and grew so anxious that the dancing was 
entirely suspended. As there were only three of us, and not 
enough to go round if but one young lady were assigned to 
each, it was proposed by the General that we make speeches in 
English. This was not so agreeable a method as taking each 
damsel separately and conversing to her in private ; but we 
consented, and it fell to my lot to lead off. Now, not a mother's 
son, or daughter, of that assemblage could understand a syllable 
of anything but Spanish and Maya, and I am ashamed to con- 
fess that I presumed upon their ignorance in a way that was not 
fair. I recited, " The boy stood on the burning deck " ; and 
when the Consul assured them it was a beautiful English poem, 
my own composition, they believed him, and applauded furi- 
ously. Then the Consul and John made speeches, the former 
passing off something of Daniel Webster's as an original ora- 
tion, and when we were through it was midnight. Refreshments 
were then brought in, and, after toasting the bright eyes, etc. 
of the Yucatecas, we all departed for our respective dwellings. 

On the morrow the General insisted upon going with us 
to the end of our journey, and so had his private volan hitched 
up, and about nine o'clock we reached our destination. In 
this town of Timax (pronounced Teemash) we found the only 
American in this section, in response to whose invitation we 



A GRAND TURKEY HUNT. 121 

had undertaken this sixty-mile ride. He was a naturalist, who, 
after spending some time in Cuba, had now been two years 
or more in Yucatan. Tired of living entirely in the woods, 
where he had collected every known bug, bird, and beast, he 
had at last settled in this remote town, and was now practising 
as a physician. As he was the only one in these parts, he had 
a very profitable practice, though his only authority was a 
" Warren's Household Physician." In truth, his entire curricu- 
lum embraced no more than he had grubbed in a few months 
from between the lids of that book. Yet he was as success- 
ful as physicians who have had the advantage of colleges and 
medical schools, and could manage to kill almost as many as 
they could, even with their improved methods and medicines. 
He then had a practice of fifty dollars a week, and usually lost 
not more than half his patients. We did not find the Doctor 
in, but we took possession of his house and hammocks, and 
when he returned were very much at home. He was extremely 
delighted to see us, not having had a chance to speak his native 
tongue for several months. 

He it was who was to conduct us to the haunts of the wild 
turkey, and we put all our guns in order, and were anxious to 
start at once. The report of a cannon startled us and made 
our cheeks turn pale, for that was a signal that the indefatigable 
General had organized and ordered another ball. As it was to 
be given in our honor, we could not well avoid attending, and 
thus the turkey hunt must be postponed. This was to be a 
grand affair, — what the negroes would call a "dignity ball," — 
and the ladies who attended wore pure white, and were ele- 
gantly attired, while the gentlemen were in faultless evening 
dress. The jefe politico, or mayor of the town, had all the 
streets swept and cleaned, and the Casa Municipal decorated, 
and sent us a courteous invitation to attend, couched in elegant 
Spanish. A great crowd of Mestizos and Mestizas surrounded 
the side and two ends of the corridor, and gazed upon the aris- 
tocratic dancers with whom they were not allowed to mingle. 
The old General excited our curiosity by not appearing during 
the afternoon and early evening, but towards nine o'clock he 



122 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

came out " fresh as a daisy," saying he had been sleeping, and 
at once marched on to the floor, demanded the prettiest girl 
there for a partner, got her, and led the dance. The ball ended 
at one o'clock in the morning, and then the General saw us 
home, and kept our medical friend up all night, during which 
time he severely punished nineteen bottles of beer, one after 
the other. "To-night," said he, as we parted from him at dawn, 
"you 're going to see something; I 'm going to get up the 
grandest fandango Timax ever had." Hearing this, we de- 
spaired of our turkey hunt entirely, as we were obliged to 
return to Merida two days later, or lose the steamer of that 
week for Mexico. 

The General was as good as his word. At dark the musicos 
— musicians — came for us, headed by our friend, whom all the 
Indians and Mestizos of that section blindly worshipped. The 
musicos were clad in cotton drawers and shirts only, with high- 
crowned straw hats ; but they played as sweetly as if all were 
graduates from a musical college, and cost only fifty cents a 
head. The soul of the native-born Mexican and Yucateco 
takes as naturally to music as a woodchuck to clover; he 
twangs the guitar and blows the dulcet horn as perfectly as he 
dances, and he commences both immediately he leaves the 
cradle. The President and Chief Judge carried round some of 
the invitations. When we reached the Casa the General was 
seated in his robe of state, — a flowing camisa, — and smiled be- 
nignantly over everybody and everything. The same dazzling 
array of beautiful, jewel-bedecked Mestiza girls beamed upon 
us this evening as at the first baile, and soon all my friends 
were busy filling their books for the dances. There was no pre- 
scribed style of dress for the men : some wore their linen out- 
side, fluttering in the evening air, some wore it inside, and some 
of the more aristocratic even wore coats, but all wore their hats. 

Unobserved, in a corner, I was watching the strange cos- 
tumes with keen relish, when the sharp eye of the General 
espied me, from his chair of state, beneath his own portrait 
draped in Mexican colors. " Hi, Sefior Federico ! why are you 
not dancing? " 



A GRAND TURKEY HUNT. 



123 



" Senor General, I don't know how." 

" Yes you do ; you 've got to dance, any way." With that he 
approached me, and, when I tried to dart through the crowd, 
caught and led me sternly back. " Here," beckoning to a lovely 
girl, " come, my darling, and dance with el sehor extranjero!' 

The girl came and stood in front of me. 

" That is my niece, the prettiest girl in the room, and the 
best dancer in the canton. Take her, now, and the Lord help 
you. 

My explanations and pro- 
testations that I never danced 
were of no avail. He only re- 
peated, " There 's my niece ; 
look at her ! " 

True enough, there she 
was, waiting for me to take 
her out. O, she was a hand- 
some girl ! with regular fea- 
tures, shapely shoulders, and 
hung all around with gold or- 
naments. Though she could 
not understand a word of my 
language, -she must have seen 
that I did not want to dance 
with her ; but when the music 
struck up she merely smiled, 
and said, in the sweetest of 
tones, " Vamonos /" 




THE PRETTIEST GIRL IN THE ROOM. 



Vamonos l means " Come 



along ! " but I would not go. Perplexed and confused, I stood 
there trying to frame an adequate answer from a somewhat 
limited Spanish vocabulary. At last I had it. " Senorita," I 
began, " yo no se this kind of a dance, you see ; it 's all Greek to 
me. A Virginia reel, now, or a sailor's hornpipe, for instance ; 
pero este baile — " 

1 Vamonos is purely colloquial, answering to the imperative of the verb Ir. 



124 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

That precious sentence of Hispano-English was never finished, 
for she advanced at that, seized me about the waist, and said, in 
a decided sort of manner, " Vamonos J '" — and I went. 

Well, that young lady sailed all about me, like a swan. While 
I hopped up and down, stepped on her skirt, and trod on her 
toes, she remained as serene as a summer sky, pulled me this 
way and that, whirled me round and round till I was giddy, and 
ended by flinging me into a seat; while the whole audience, 
who had remained thunder-struck with awe and amazement at 
my war-dance, burst into loud cries of " Viva Americano ! " 

The girls sat ranged all along the wall, and waited till a 
caballero waltzed up to them and snatched one away. That 
was considered the proper thing to do, — when you saw a girl 
you wanted, to go up and lift her off her seat. Seeing that I 
was slow in coming forward, they reversed the order of things, 
and, before I was well aware, I was spinning away with another 
lady. One of the dances was the toro, or bull-dance ; and 
another, the zopilote, or turkey-buzzard dance, in which a man 
and woman take the floor, each with a handkerchief, and go 
through a very extraordinary performance. 

About midnight the Doctor looked in, on his way to visit a 
dying patient, and, wishing to see a new phase of native life, 
I went with him. Entering the thatched pole-hut of a poor 
Indian, we found ourselves in a dark room, feebly lighted by a 
small candle. It was a decided contrast to the bright ball-room, 
this gloomy and miserable hut, the abode of poverty and pain. 
In a hammock lay an Indian woman, the death-damp already 
gathering on her forehead, and a group of other women kneel- 
ing despairingly before a picture of the Virgin. Three ham- 
mocks hung from the smoke-blackened rafters, and these, with 
a few rude cooking utensils, were all the furniture of this cheer- 
less abode. 

The Doctor told them of her condition, and the informa- 
tion was communicated to the dying one, who changed nei- 
ther position nor expression. Doubtless, she was glad to 
escape from a life that offered nothing but drudgery and toil ; 
for these Indians have no fear of death, always welcoming 



A GRAND TURKEY HUNT. 



125 



it, and rejoicing rather than mourning over the departure of 
a friend. 

Out in the night air it was cool, bright, and pleasant, for a 
norther had just passed over. As we reached the corridor, the 
ball was just breaking up, and toasts were being drunk, to Mex- 
ico and the United States, to the senoritas and ourselves. Good 
feeling pervaded us all, and we parted from these kind and 
unsophisticated people with great regret, the band of musicos 
escorting us to the Doctor's house with lively music, and amid 
vivas for the two republics. 




VII. 



IN THE LOGWOOD FORESTS. 

AFTER the last ball, the good General insisted upon staying 
and ascertaining the quality of the remainder of the Doc- 
tor's three dozen of beer ; and at three A. M., seeing that it was 
likely to be an all-night session, I crept into the kitchen and 
took possession of one of the hammocks. This kitchen was the 
usual structure devoted to that use in Yucatan, of loose poles 
driven into the ground, forming a square pen, topped by a roof 
of thatch. Lorenzo Acosta, who owned the house the Doctor 
hired, and who piloted me to this retreat, had a rancho in the 
logwood district, which he invited me to visit, promising plenty 
of flamingoes and wild turkeys. We were to start early in the 
morning, before the Consul and John would be stirring, and, as 
the ride was to be a long one, had made good our escape from 
the General in order to gain a few hours' sleep. Two old women 
and a boy occupied this apartment, but the latter was uncere- 
moniously ejected from one of the hammocks, which Lorenzo 
and I appropriated. 

Perhaps the reader is not acquainted with the Yucatan way 
of sleeping, two in a hammock, and I will proceed to enlighten 
him. As the first one lies down in the hammock, he carefully 
takes up only one half, measured longitudinally, leaving the 
remainder for his friend. This the latter occupies, with his feet 
toward and parallel with the other's head, so that the two are 
packed " heads and points," like sardines. This leaves a kind 
of partition between the sleepers which effectually separates 
them ; though, if one is inclined to kick in his sleep, the other 
must guard well his nose. In any event, a person at all fastid- 
ious might object to this style of packing, and prefer sleeping 



IN THE LOGWOOD FORESTS. 127 

family fashion, crosswise the hammock. But when one aban- 
dons himself to the guidance of a stranger, upon whose hospi- 
tality he is dependent, he must promptly check any qualms of his 
sensitive soul, and be duly grateful for what he can get. 

It was so cold that I awoke several times during the brief 
space we occupied the hammock, and tried to remember that 
this was what they term the "hot" season. From the great 
flat surface of rock exposed to the rays of a powerful sun 
during the day in Yucatan, and the extremely rapid radiation 
at night, a degree of cold is sometimes reached that produces 
nocturnal freezing. During the hot, dry season, the cool nights 
are in most delightful contrast to the heated atmosphere of day, 
and induce sweet slumber, if one is properly guarded from ex- 
tremes of temperature. 

At about seven in the morning we were off for the logwood 
camp, by the way of the town of Oilam. This inverted C, with 
which Dilam is spelled, is a necessity arising from the reten- 
tion of the ancient Maya names, and has the power of Ts, the 
word, consequently, being pronounced Tsilam. Don Alonzo 
could speak excellent Spanish, but what availed that to me 
when I was but in my first lessons in that language? He could 
not speak English, but he had a new " Ollendorff," and with this 
and my " conversation-book " in our hands, we rode through 
the cool woods, startling the birds with our blunders, and 
laughing at our many mistakes. 

After an easy ride of four short leagues we arrived at 3ilam, 
entering its principal street between low, white-walled houses. 
Going to a house near the great square, we tied our horses, and 
I paid the man who brought my luggage two reals — twenty- 
five cents — for his services, and four reals for the horse, and 
he returned to Timax. We were provided with breakfast in a 
tienda, — a shop, — and while we were eating, the proprietor 
played the Toro for us on a guitar. After a siesta in a ham- 
mock, drowsily watching a girl of graceful figure, clad only in a 
snowy uipil, combing for an hour her abundant tresses, I was 
taken out and introduced to the Presidente as the " learned 
naturalist, author, and discoverer, Sefior Don Federico." 



128 



TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 



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MUSIC OF THE TORO. 



By him I was promised seven Indians, with whom to make an 
excavation in the great mound. I should explain here, that 
Dilam is celebrated for its great aboriginal mound, four hundred 
feet in length and fifty in height. This occupies one side of the 
great plaza of the town, and towers above the church and prin- 
cipal buildings, which were all built of stone from its ruins. It 
was visited by Stephens, and carelessly examined by him, a 
somewhat fanciful sketch of it being given in his second volume 
on Yucatan. He attached great importance to it as being the 
centre of a population at the time of the first visit of the Span- 
iards, quoting Herrera in confirmation that it was then " a fine 
Town, the Lord whereof was a youth of the Race of the Cheles, 
then a Christian, and a great Friend to Captain Francis de 
Montejo, who received and entertained them." 

From the summit of this mound the country for leagues around 
can be seen, and the eye ranges over a vast extent of scrub, 
with no village in sight but the one about its base. A second 
mound lies north of this one, running east and west, while this 
larger and contiguous one has its longer axis north and south. 
The limits of these great tumuli once greatly exceeded their 
present area, as dressed stones can be seen in the streets, in 



IN THE LOGWOOD FORESTS. 



129 



position, which run out into the scrub for a great distance. 
Under guidance of Don Juan we climbed the smaller mound, 
and some little boys commenced to throw out the dirt and 
stones from a small hole in the top. They soon brought out 
fragments of pottery and plaster, the former finely glazed and 
tinted, the plaster colored bright red, drab, and green, and all 
the tints fresh as if put on but yesterday. After the adult In- 
dians arrived, more plaster was exhumed, and a room disclosed 
filled with debris from above. It proved to be arched, in a way 
similar to the " Akabna," at Ake. They opened it sufficiently 
to show its shape, but did not find any more pottery or plas- 
ter, which was evidently above and outside the building. So I 
caused the earth to be removed from the top, and soon revealed 
great pieces of stucco, showing bright colors and elaborate or- 
namentation and design ; but not enough to satisfy me, though 
I was obliged to desist digging before finding much, as the sun 
was setting. Its last rays shone directly into the chamber we 
had opened. Half the men and boys of the village were gath- 
ered by this time, and all assisted eagerly at the work, even the 
Presidente and the schoolmaster. I paid the Indians a real 
apiece, and the boys a medio, and all were delighted. The ruins 
of a building upon this mound would seem to indicate the use of 
these vast accumulations of earth as foundations for palaces or 
temples. In a flat country, like Yucatan, it would be necessary 
to elevate the public buildings in this manner in order that they 
could be seen from a distance. Though the ruinous state of the 
structure was so complete that no satisfactory outline could be 
obtained, its stones covering all sides of the mound, and large 
trees and agaves growing upon the summit, yet it seemed to 
have been composed of successive platforms, each one covered 
with a thick layer of cement or plaster. Stephens did not visit 
it, but states that the padre, a young man of thirty (when he 
was there, forty years ago), remembered when a building still 
remained " with open doorways, pillars in them, and a corridor 
all around," and was called El Castillo, — the castle. 

It should be remembered that Dilam, though leagues away, 
is the only port of the large town of Izamal, where there 

9 



130 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

is an immense mound and a gigantic sculptured head, and a 
road leads straight from the coast, through Timax, to that 
aboriginal city. 

Alonzo and I occupied a hammock in a large, empty build- 
ing belonging to Don Juan, and slept again a la Yticateca, the 
feet of each in close proximity to the other's head, which is 
almost as compact a style as that denominated "spoon fashion." 
We were to start at four the next morning, but did not rise till 
five ; and though I expected to get on our journey by sunrise, 
it was nine o'clock before we left the town. This might have 
been expected, for the day before it was to have been muy tem- 
prano, — very early, — and we left Timax three hours behind 
time. No one was stirring in the plaza, but a baker's shop was 
open, with the usual knot of men in cotton pants, shivering in 
their sarapes ; and here we got a cup of chocolate. While 
waiting for my horse, we visited the old churchyard, a walled- 
off corner, with orange trees in it. It must have been formerly 
used as a cemetery, for there were heaps of boxes — wine cases, 
brandy and soap boxes — full of dead men's bones ; and in a 
recess in the church wall were arm and leg bones, and grinning 
skulls, that seemed inclined to dispute our entrance. Don Juan 
took us to see an old stone, with a strange inscription on it : 
probably, as he said, the work of Indians under Spanish direc- 
tion ; and he held up a wooden cross while we removed from 
it the boxes of bones. 

Having thus been cheerfully fortified for the journey, I 
thought Alonzo would start; but he lingered here and there, 
buying meat and bread, till eight o'clock; then we mounted 
our horses, bade our friends " Actios" and rode down the 
street to a hut, where he asked for breakfast. This consumed 
another hour, though the Mestiza girl worked hard to prepare 
it for us, being hindered by the admiring and amorous Alonzo, 
who haunted the kitchen, teasing the pretty cook for a caress. 
Her mother, a wrinkled old lady, learning that I could not 
speak Spanish, pulled a dolorous countenance and called me 
pobrecito, — poor little fellow, — and wanted to know where in the 
world I lived, that the people could not speak " Castellano." 



IN THE LOGWOOD FORESTS. 



131 



We finally got fairly astride our steeds at the cross of San Jose, 
near a big ceibo tree, and turned into a narrow trail that was, its 
whole length, very stony, or muy pedragoso. This led into the 
forest forming part of the belt that lines the eastern and north- 
ern coasts of Yucatan, the trees gradually increasing in size, 
and becoming more open as we advanced. Birds grew more 
numerous, especially the queer bird called the road-runner, — 
el corre-camino , — a species of cuckoo, or the chaparral cock. 
We had to walk our horses, the road was so slippefry ; very little 
soil covered the coral rock, which was full of holes, caves, and 
cenotes, nearly all leading to water. At noon we halted at a 
small cenote, where there was an opening in the rock, down 
which our Indian went, and got a calabash full of pure water. 
A team of pack mules came up just then, and their owner sat 
down with us and joined in a refresco Yucateco. Into the cala- 
bash of water Alonzo put a big ball of atole, or mixture of 
corn, procured of the Mestiza in the morning, and stirred it 
up with his fingers. When of proper consistency it was passed 
to me, and, drinking of it, I found it sweet and refreshing. 
This is prepared by the women, of maize, spiced and sweetened, 
and is in universal use in Yucatan and Southern Mexico, form- 
ing, with water, a pleasant and strengthening drink. We drank 
all around from the same calabash, then mounted and went on 
again. The great woods were open at times, sweet, clean, and 
inviting, and the leaves lay on the ground as in autumn in the 
North ; but I had no relish for this sight, desiring to reach the 
end of a ride that promised to be interminable. 

Late in the afternoon, we reached a change in the dry, hot 
road, an agnada, or small pond ; and here, at a sign from 
Alonzo, I got off my horse and crept toward the water with 
my gun. Through the bushes I saw a gallinule, a beautiful 
bird, which I shot, and immediately after another, that flew 
up at the report of the gun. These Alonzo secured by wad- 
ing into the dark pool, notwithstanding he had sore feet, as our 
Indian, though bare-legged, refused to secure them. The aguada 
was deep, its surface well covered with lilies and water plants, 
and fringed with an abundance of dead snail shells. 



132 



TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 



My friend had hitherto ridden perched upon two packs of 
luggage, and I had used his horse, while the Indian carried 
a great load on his back, supported by a band passing across 
his forehead. We both dismounted here and pursued the rest 




OUR INDIAN PORTER. 



of our way on foot ; and I shot a chachalalka, a kind of 
pheasant, and from a little gem of an aguada we put up three 
large ducks. The gallinules, Alonzo tells me, are pajaros 
preciosos, or very precious birds ; and they are, indeed, a rare 



IN THE LOGWOOD FORESTS. 



133 



species, and a valuable addition to my collection. The whole 
character of the forest changed after this ; the aguadas were 
more frequent, and the entire country appeared as though at 
times submerged. Of this, in fact, my friend assured me, add- 
ing that, when he came here, in June, the place where he had 
his camp, now dry land, was entirely under water. 

I was very weary when we at last reached a meadow, in which 
some horses were feeding, and was told that we were near the 
rancho. To my great surprise my friend's rancho — from the 
name of which I was led to expect a small farm — proved to 
be nothing more than a collection of four huts of palmetto 
leaves, merely roofs to shed the rain, with open ends and sides. 
They were on the southern rim of a lovely aguada, surrounded 
by palmetto and deciduous trees. A pile of logwood, thatched 
with leaves, a bath-house of palm leaves, and a leaf roof over 
some hollow logs that served as beehives, completed the estab- 
lishment. 

On the road we had met a train of mules, each with a great 
plank, fifteen feet long and two wide, lashed on each side, one 
end projecting beyond his ears, the other dragging on the 
ground. This is the only way in which Western Yucatan can 
get its timber, all the west and central portion being covered 
with scrub or second growth. 

About twenty Indians and Mestizos, with bare bodies and 
legs, sandals, and great cutlasses, were lounging about as we 
rode in. Three Indian women and a comely Mestiza were busy 
about their household duties. Upon a large plank, three feet 
wide, supported on four legs, were two metates, with rollers, 
used for grinding corn for tortillas ; and in addition to this there 
were a few tubs, a grindstone, and all the things necessary to a 
camp in the forest. From pole to pole, under the thatched 
roofs of the open huts, were stretched hammocks of Sisal hemp, 
and two great mosquito bars told their own tale of insects at 
night. 

We rode into this logwood camp, and I was invited to a ham- 
mock, while they talked over news and business, for Alonzo 
had been gone some time. I noticed one man, a Mestizo, who 



134 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

had an uneasy look, and one woman, a Mestiza, who was 
comely and had an anxious look, though a very sympathetic 
one, — as they say here, muy simpatica. Of the other women, 
one was fat and restless, and the other old and honest. They 
all worked well, not intermitting their labors for a minute. 
Supper was soon ready. After the fashion of the country, we 
first washed our hands in a calabash, and five minutes later that 
same calabash was brought in full of water to drink. Poor 
Alonzo had but two bowls . besides calabashes, for he was only 
camping, and had no knife, fork, or spoon ; so I took my jack- 
knife, while they ate with fingers and tortillas. Tortillas and 
frijoles (beans) are the main stay of a Mexican cuisine. Upon 
the tortillas, as plates, you spread the beans, and with another 
corn cake, rolled up in shape of a spoon, you scoop in the 
frijoles. When the latter are finished, you eat the spoon, and 
then the plate, leaving no troublesome dishes to bother the 
cook. 

Our companion was a Spaniard, lately from Europe, a pleas- 
ant, black-eyed young man, who was sent by a firm there to 
look after their interests in the logwood. There were no chairs, 
of course, and we sat in hammocks, while the food was placed 
on a box on a clean cloth. As we ate, more tortillas were 
brought, hot from the fire, handed to us on a cloth by the cook, 
and taken by us and clapped down on the table. Quite a pile 
was heaped up before we left, and these were taken and warmed 
over for the men. After eating, a calabash was passed around, 
full of water, for rinsing the mouth. The proper way is to fill 
the mouth with water, and, after inserting the finger and scrub- 
bing the teeth, to spit it out. This custom prevails throughout 
Mexico, even among well-to-do people. Coffee and cigarettes 
then followed ; the latter, in fact, were going all the time. By 
this time darkness had settled down, and some of the men retired 
to their hammocks. Though surrounded by strangers, and some 
with not very pleasant faces, I left all my arms outside the mos- 
quito bar as I retired, conscious that they, as well as myself, were 
safe. Later in the season, in the highlands of Mexico, I would 
have sooner slept without my blanket than without my revolver ; 



IN THE LOGWOOD FORESTS. 1 35 

for the Aztecs are as treacherous and faithless as the people of 
Yucatan are honest and true. 

After a second coffee we all sought our hammocks, where 
Alonzo and I reclined, smoking and chatting. I was anxious 
to go on to the coast for flamingoes, but my host told me I 
could not, — that I was at his disposal; which remark rather 
irritated me, until he added, with a smile, " And I am at yours, 
also." I had got accustomed to this polite insincerity, how- 
ever. On the way I asked him if the horse he rode was his, 
and he replied: "Si, senor, y de usted, tambien," — "Yes, sir, 
and yours as well." After that I ventured but one more ques- 
tion of the kind, and that was when, in the house of the young 
lady who had prepared our breakfast, I asked if she was his 
sweetheart. The customary reply came readily to his lips : 
" Si, amigo mio, and yours also." 

I fell asleep, as soon as the insects feasting on me, ticks, 
sand-flies, fleas, and chinches, would permit, but soon awoke 
suddenly, conscious that Alonzo had darted out from under 
the mosquito bar and was in angry expostulation with the man 
with the evil eyes. This man, early in the evening, had gone 
raving to his hammock, and after crying there awhile he had 
come tearing out, and seized his wife, — the sympathetic one, 
— dragging her away from her work. She had submitted, 
though expecting a beating, merely glancing at her torn uipil ; 
but one of the men jumped at him as he drew her along, and 
quieted him for a while. Now he had broken out afresh, threat- 
ening to kill Alonzo if he did not immediately pay him his wages, 
and brandishing a great machete furiously. Alonzo was in no 
wise frightened, but sprang at him like a jaguar, promising him a 
beating that would answer for his wages. And I have no doubt 
the Indian would have got it, though my friend is a little man, 
for in Dilam he had flown at a man who talked insolently to 
him, slapped his face, and pounded him well, until he ceased 
from talking. So they had it out in talk, and piled fresh fuel 
on the fire as though they intended to be at it all night, mak- 
ing my hut as light as day. The fight ended, Alonzo quietly 
entered the mosquito bar, which was made large enough for 



136 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

both our hammocks, and ordered coffee and cigarettes for 
two. When he had asked me to enter, he had said, in Maya, 
" Kom in" which is the equivalent in that language for " Come 
in." There are also other words similar in sound and signifi- 
cation to ours. In the morning, after coffee and cigarettes, we 
all went into the woods to inspect the logwood — the palo 
tinto or palo de Campeche — which the men had cut during 
Acosta's absence. It was then very hot, though the night had 
been freezing cold. 

The wood they had cut lay in little heaps where they had 
felled the trees. It was trimmed of all the bark and white outer 
wood, and was in color from light red to dark purple. One of 
the men had a steelyard with him, and this was hung from a 
tree, and the wood, piled on a suspended platform, was weighed, 
four arrobas, or one hundred pounds, at a time. This was noted 
down, with the name of the man who cut it, and we passed on 
to the next, being engaged in this way several hours. The 
horses were then led up, and a load of four arrobas packed on 
each, and carried to the camp. 

The logwood tree, Hcematoxylon Campechianum, is found 
bordering all the great lagoons and a good portion of the sea- 
coast of Southern Mexico. Campeche especially — a name 
which this tree bears as its specific appellation — exports vast 
quantities. It is a tree of medium size and peculiar appear- 
ance, attaining a height of twenty or thirty feet. The trunk is 
gnarled and full of cavities, and separates a short distance above 
the ground ; the leaves are pinnated, the flowers small and yel- 
lowish, hanging in bunches from the ends of the branches. The 
bark is dark, while the sap-wood is yellowish, and the heart, 
the valuable portion, deep red. The logwood forests are nearly 
all flooded in the rainy season, though the tree is found in the 
hills as well as on the plains. It is in the dry season that the 
cutting begins, and in the rainy season the wood is floated to 
the embarcaderos , or wharves, on the rivers and lagoons, and 
thence to the ports to be laden in foreign vessels. 

Many other valuable woods are found in Yucatan, including 
the mastic (Pistacia lentiscus), and dye-woods and dyeing 



IN THE LOGWOOD FORESTS. 1 37 

plants, such as the archil {Rocella tinctoria) and madder (Ru- 
bia tinctorium ) . 

The sun was blazing hot, butterflies played about us, birds 
sang in the thin-foliaged trees, and a native quail, or faisan, got 
up at intervals. We saw one deer, venado, and one turkey, 
pavo del monte, but not near enough for a fair shot. There 
were many caves and depressions in the limestone surface, with 
water in them, looking cool and inviting for a bath ; but numer- 
ous adders swimming across the water rendered them less at- 
tractive. Thousands of dead snails lay in windrows, but not a 
live one was to be found, though I searched diligently under 
the dead logs and leaves. 

The logwood was brought into camp and stacked, whence it 
will be carried to the port of Oilam and shipped. There seem 
to be vast quantities of it, but it is in remote sections, where it 
is difficult and expensive to get it out. As we returned to camp, 
my friend was taken with cramp in the stomach, and howled and 
cried, and the man with whom he had quarrelled in the morning 
was the first to hasten to his aid. I suspected then it was but a 
ruse to bring about a change of sentiment through sympathy. 
In the evening Alonzo brought out a big bag of silver which he 
had brought to pay the men with, and proceeded to devote it 
to that purpose. I admired the pluck of my little friend, that 
would not let him be browbeaten into paying it out before he 
was ready, though in apparent danger from the Indian with the 
bad-looking eyes. We walked out in the cool of the evening 
toward the aguadas, or ponds ; the birds were still, and a quiet 
brooded over the lonely place, except for the cries of the galli- 
nules in the marsh, one of which Alonzo shot, and waded into 
the water waist-deep to secure it. Sometimes the simplest thing 
will awaken thoughts of home when in a strange country where 
the scenery is different; and mine were carried back to the 
North by the sight of a group of cat-tail flags, growing as in 
Northern meadows. 

\The industry of the Indian women of Yucatan is a matter of 
wonder. From long before daylight till late at night, even after 
we had retired to our rest, they were toiling at the metates. It 



138 



TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 



is the most laborious of occupations, to work the stone roller 
over a smooth slab of stone all day long. I saw two girls in 
Timax who worked twelve hours a day at the metates, grinding 
castor beans, for which they received eigJiteen cents per day.J 
Our women were kept employed unusually late that night, in 
cooking up a store of tortillas for our journey next day, for 
we were to go to the coast for flamingoes. 




LA TORTILLERA. 



VIII. 

NORTH COAST OF YUCATAN. 

n*HE glassy surface of the aguada, soon after dawn, reflected 
-*■ the rosy hues of the sky, the sun crept slowly up, dis- 
sipating the coolness of the night, and before seven it was very 
hot. The sand- flies came out and enlivened us, while the birds 
commenced their cries. I dressed and went out. Coffee was 
ready, and cigarettes, and, after taking breakfast, we were ready 
to start for the coast. We were to have started muy temprano, 
— very early, — but the sun climbed higher and higher, and 
still the horses were munching their corn, and my friend still 
unprepared. It is always manana — to-morrow — in this coun- 
try ; manana temprano, early to-morrow ; but it is ever manana, 
and never temprano. The people lose the best hours of morn- 
ing, and work in the heat of the day. 

Across the aguada there was a strange bird, called the 
marinero, or sailor, that uttered a succession of harsh cries 
for hours. The woods were full of birds of certain species, 
such as orioles, flycatchers, blackbirds, doves, and a host of 
others. I shot a very beautiful trogon, with a yellow breast, 
and parrots were crying out all the time. Temprano meant 
ten o'clock, when the sun nearly blistered our backs ; yet even 
then Alonzo wanted to know if I would not like to wait till 
later. 

Many of the trees that composed the wood we first entered 
supported great nests of the white ants, which looked at a little 
distance like black bears. We passed through a broad area 
covered with wild henequen, showing whence the plants come 
with which the plantations are stocked. Near some lovely 
aguadas was a new rancho, with a nice-looking girl preparing 



I40 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

tortillas; and some hundred rods beyond we saw an Indian 
mound of shells. An hour later I saw a man-of-war bird 
(Tachypetes aquila), and felt that, from this sign, the sea could 
not be far off; nor was I mistaken, for we soon struck a sandy 
plain with small salt ponds, and espied the great lagoon that 
connects with the sea. 

Mangroves and stunted trees had been features of the land- 
scape thus far, but a mound of green coco palms now rose up 
and relieved the monotony. This was the cerro, or hill, we 
were looking for, a shell-heap made by the ancient Indians, 
covered and surrounded with a few hundred coco palms. Here 
were two small thatched and wattled huts, dilapidated and 
dirty, within which were two Indian women cooking some fish. 
They had nothing else except a little corn ; but they brought 
a great fish, called lisa, which had been broiled on the coals 
in its own fat, and this was delicious. It was, as it lay split 
open, nearly two inches thick, and we ate and relished exceed- 
ingly great flakes of it. These women had never seen a spoon, 
table-knife, or fork ; and, as we had none with us, we used our 
fingers and tortillas, each one taking his turn at the fish and 
gravy. Fortunately, we had hundreds of coco nuts at hand, 
and were not obliged to drink the dirty coffee they boiled for 
us, but had, instead, the refreshing water of the cocos. A man 
came along as we finished our cigarettes, and we engaged him 
to take us in his boat to a point up the lagoon where there 
were, according to him, " muchos flamingos." The cerro is at 
a point where the lagoon meets the sea, called Boca de Oilam 
and Puntas Arenas, or point of sand. There are long sand- 
bars and shoals, and naturally the fish congregate by millions, 
and the sea-birds by thousands. A wall of mangroves comes 
down to the border of the lagoon, and beyond the sand point 
is the open ocean. Flocks of pelicans, sea-gulls, terns, cor- 
morants, peeps, plover, snipe, herons, egrets, and spoonbills 
were flying, wading, and swimming, in and above the water. 
Here, it is said, the flamingoes come by hundreds on the bar, 
about a gunshot from the huts among the palms ; but they were 
not there then, — they would come that night, or manana. 



NORTH COAST OF YUCATAN. 141 

The man poled the boat up the lagoon, disturbing hundreds of 
snipe and sandpipers, to a point where the stream narrowed, and 
where the mangroves reached even to the water's edge, forming 
solid green walls, with the placid water between them. These 
trees were dotted with white herons and cormorants, and at a 
place where there was a spring, — a spring of fresh water 1 bub- 
bling up in this salt water lagoon, — we put up a hundred ducks 
and two dozen spoonbills {Platalea ajaja) which were roost- 
ing on the trees. 

Having shot some of these birds we tried to land, but the 
mud was so soft, and we sank so deep, that it was impossible, 
and we were obliged to leave them. Quitting the main channel, 
we entered a narrow water lane, where many egrets and night- 
herons, with broad boat-bills, flapped across our bows. The 
mangroves were in bloom, the small concealed flower being 
hardly perceptible. At last we reached the point where the 
flamingoes ought to have been, but where they were not, - — a 
broad mud flat, where they always had fed till that day. Dis- 
appointed, we turned the boat about, after causing it to be 
pushed over the mud as far as possible, and returned. 

The sun was down then, and the water smoother, and all the 
little water birds and the greater ibis and herons were going to 
roost, some on the sand-bars, others on the trees. Our dinner, 
when we reached the hut, was the same as our breakfast, — a 
large broiled fish, laid out on a palmetto fan, which we ate by 
the light of an attenuated candle, stuck near by on a metate 
table. The interior of the hut was black with smoke, dried fish 
were stuck up all about, nets and other paraphernalia of a fisher's 
hut hung in the corners, and one end was filled by a great pile 

1 Perhaps the reader may recall the accounts given of the wonderful fresh-water 
spring in the Atlantic, off St. Augustine, on the Florida coast, known forty years 
ago. " On the northern coast of Yucatan," says Humboldt, " at the mouth of the 
Rio Lagartos, four hundred metres from the shore, springs of fresh water spout up 
from amidst the salt water. It is probable that from some strong hydrostatical 
pression the fresh water, after bursting through the banks of calcareous rocks be- 
tween the clefts of which it had flowed, rises above the level of the salt water." 
Florida and Yucatan are of similar geological formation ; hence the appearance of 
these springs on the coasts of both peninsulas. 



142 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

of coco nuts. Into the six hammocks, hung side by side in the 
centre, ten people stowed themselves as night came on, though 
Alonzo and I, in virtue of our silver, had a single one each. I 
slept uneasily, because they told me the flamingoes would come 
in the night, and we must get up at moonrise and hunt them. 
Insects of some kind — I could not tell what, nor how many, 
save that I knew they were numerous and sanguinary — were 
crawling over me all night. The hammock next me was occu- 
pied by an old woman with two babies, and she, with the men 
and boys on either side, was smoking and spitting all night. It 
was very dark, and the wind was howling through the spaces of 
the hut during all those weary hours, and in the morning there 
was a perfect " norther," and the long leaves of the coco palms 
were lashing their trunks in fury. At sunset the Indians told 
us the flamingoes would come at midnight, then at dawn, and 
when daylight came they were on an island two leagues off, and 
would appear manana. When I heard this last, I knew the case 
was hopeless, and prepared to depart. The only sight of flamin- 
goes we obtained was early in the morning, when two long lines 
flapped over the water far at sea, distinguishable miles away by 
their bright color. 

Forty years ago, Mr. Stephens and Dr. Cabot had similar for- 
tune to mine in this same locality, having been lured here from 
the port of Oilam by the stories told them of the abundance 
of ibis and flamingoes, and having still returned empty-handed. 
Then, as now, Puntas Arenas was simply a station for fishermen, 
and had but a single hut. I perfectly agree with the distin- 
guished traveller, that, " for mere sporting, such a ground is not 
often seen, and the idea of a shooting lodge, or rather hut, on 
the shores of Punta Arenas for a few months in the season, pre- 
sented itself almost as attractively as that of exploring ruined 
cities." 

Stephens was then on his way back from an extended explo- 
ration of the ruins on the island of Cozumel and the east coast 
of the peninsula ; and perhaps, as this is the nearest point we 
shall reach in that direction, it will be well to interpolate a short 
description of that portion of Yucatan. The first point at which 



NORTH COAST OF YUCATAN. I43 

the Spaniards under Cordova touched upon the then unknown 
kingdom of Mexico was at its northeastern extremity, now 
called Cape Catoche. An Indian chief invited them ashore, 
saying, " Con-escotoch" which signifies, " Come to our town " ; 
and from this he gave it the name of Punta de Cotoche. It is 
situated in latitude 21 34' North, longitude 86° 57' 51" West. 

" It was determined by us to accept the invitation," says the 
old chronicler, " observing the proper precaution of going all 
in a body, and by one embarkation, as we perceived the shore 
to be lined with Indians." They were attacked by these, their 
first acquaintances of the new country, and fifteen of the com- 
pany wounded. " These warriors were armed with thick coats 
of cotton, and carried, besides their bows and arrows, lances, 
shields, and slings ; they also wore ornaments of feathers on 

their heads Near the place of this ambuscade were 

three buildings of lime and stone, wherein were idols of clay, 
with diabolical countenances, and several wooden chests, which 
contained similar idols but smaller, some vessels, three dia- 
dems, and some imitations of birds and fishes in alloyed gold. 
The buildings of lime and stone, and the gold, gave us a high 
idea of the country we had discovered. On our return to the 
shore we had the satisfaction to find that, while we were fight- 
ing, our chaplain, Gonzales, had taken care of the chests and 
their contents, which he had, with the assistance of two Indians 
of Cuba, brought off safely to our ships. Having re-embarked, 
we proceeded as before, coasting to the westward." 

The island of Cozumel was discovered the next year, 15 18, 
on the voyage of Grijalva, and for it Cortes set sail in 15 19. 
" There was," says Bernal Diaz, " on the island of Cozumel a 
temple, and some hideous idols, to which all the Indians of the 
neighboring districts used to go frequently in solemn proces- 
sion." These idols Cortes and his companions cast down, and 
substituted the cross in their place, which the Indians finally 
consented to accept. Here they heard of two Spaniards in cap- 
tivity among the Indians, one of whom they rescued, and who 
proved of great service afterwards as an interpreter. 

North of the great island of Cozumel is Isla Mujeres, about 



144 



TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 



six miles from the coast, five or six miles in length by half a 
mile wide. Here some of the sailors with Cortes went on shore, 
and found in the town, near by, four temples, the idols in which 
represented human female figures of large size, for which reason 
they named this place Punta de las Mujeres, or Women's Cape. 

What Stephens, in 
J**2fr 1842, did for Isla 

Mujeres and Cozu- 
mel, in a superfi- 
cial manner, the ar- 
chaeologist Dr. Le 
Plongeon has since 
done more thor- 
oughly and satisfac- 
torily. In a com- 
munication, printed 
in 1878, he gives 
a complete survey 
(the first) of the 
Isla Mujeres, locat- 
ing the ancient 
buildings, the shrine, 
or temple, formerly 
containing the idols 
spoken of, and the 
" altar." A valua- 
ble discovery by the 
Doctor was made 
there of a terra-cotta 
female figure, which 
had formed the front 
of a brasero, or incense-burner. It was of excellent workman- 
ship, and valuable, not only from' this fact, but owing to the 
extreme rarity of works of the ceramic art on and near the 
peninsula of Yucatan. 

He "carefully surveyed the ruins, and made photographs of 
the " temple," which shows that it has suffered from the hand 




TERRA-COTTA FIGURE. 



NORTH COAST OF YUCATAN. I45 

of time since the visit of Stephens. He, however, locates it at 
the south end of the island, while Stephens erroneously places 
it at the north. The building is of stone, twenty-eight feet long 
and fifteen deep ; the interior is divided into two corridors, the 
ceiling has the triangular arch, and it gives evidence of being 
the work of the builders on the mainland. Portions of the 
structure have been used for building purposes, but to-day, 
says the Doctor, the people obtain stone from a large ruined 
city on the mainland opposite Mujeres, where they go with fear 
and trembling, lest they should meet with Indians from Tulum, 
and be made prisoners. " A very happy confirmation of the 
statement of Diaz that these people burned incense was made 
here. Desiring to varnish some negatives, in order to carry 
them safely home, I put some live coals in the bottom of the 
incense burner, and entered the shrine to be protected from 
the wind ; when lo ! a slight vapor arose from among the coals, 
and a sweet, delicious perfume filled again the antique shrine as 
in the days of its splendor, when the devotees and pilgrims from 
afar used to make their offerings, and burn the mixture, care- 
fully prepared, of styrax, copal, and other aromatic resins, on 
the altar of the goddess." 

The ancient inhabitants of Yucatan and the coasts of Mexico 
made great use of the gums of storax, and copal as incense. 

Says the chronicler of Grijalva's expedition (15 17), speaking 
of their visit to the temple in Cozumel, " While they were at 
the top of the tower an old Indian put in a vase with very odor- 
iferous perfumes, which seemed of storax; he burned many 
perfumes before the idols which were in the tower, and sang in 
a loud voice a song, which was always in the same tune." 

An historian .of Yucatan, Landa, says: " The very travellers 
carried incense with them in a small dish. At night, wherever 
they arrived, they placed together three small stones, deposit- 
ing upon them grains of incense." 

The Spaniards, in their first voyages to these coasts, found it 
the custom to fumigate all strangers, and burn odorous gums 
before the idols in the temples. One of the complaints of an 
early voyager was against this prevailing custom, for he was 

10 



146 



TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 



often nearly choked by the fumes, odoriferous though they were. 
This was not done, probably, to kill any germ of infectious dis- 
ease which the stranger might have about him, but as a token 
of respect. The soldiers of Cortes were at first much flattered, 
because they fancied themselves saluted as gods by this token 
of homage. In the churches, at the present day, native gums 
are burned in the censers. This discovery, on the coast of 




FRONT OF "INCENSE BURNER. 7 



Yucatan and British Honduras, of braseros, or incense burners, 
confirms the truth of those statements of the historians. 

The northern and eastern shores, especially the latter, are 
dotted with ruins ; a cordon of ruined villages, cities, temples, 
and palaces is drawn along the coast. None more interesting 
has been described than the city of Tulum, which Stephens 
identifies, with much show of reason in his support, with the 



NORTH COAST OF YUCATAN. 147 

great cities of lime and stone seen by the first Spanish visitors. 
Here he found a grand " castle " and extensive buildings, some 
with roofs of beams still supporting a crust of mortar. Buried 
in a dense forest, he found sculptured stones, altars, watch- 
towers, paintings, stucco-work, and buildings of a beautiful style 
of architecture. The whole northeastern portion of Yucatan is 
a wilderness, a section of country that was once teeming with 
people, and full of populous cities. 

From this long detour northward, let us return once more to 
Puntas Arenas, where I left my friend Alonzo ready to renew 
the search for flamingoes. He was determined to find some, 
and to put me within gunshot of them, even if we had to go to 
the Rio Lagartos, fifteen leagues away; for he had promised 
the Consul he would. But I was determined to leave for Dilam 
and civilization, as by another day's delay I might miss the 
steamer down the coast, and be hindered another week in my 
journey to Mexico. Finding me obdurate, he yielded grace- 
fully, and to his already numerous favors added the crowning 
one of giving me his horse to ride, while he returned to the 
rancho. Then he embraced and patted me on the back, com- 
mended me to the old Indian who had been our guide, and 
started on his walk of three leagues to the rancho, while I turned 
his horse's head westward, and we parted to meet no more. 

My guide, a withered and wrinkled old man, mounted astride a 
little stallion, between two packs, and his legs hanging down by 
the horse's neck, led the way. I thought my misfortunes ended ; 
but this was an ill-starred trip, for we had not been ten minutes on 
the trail before my horse got stuck in the soft mud of the shore, 
and, rearing up, fell over on me, pinning one leg in the soft ooze. 
How I escaped from the wildly-floundering animal is something I 
do not understand to this day ; but I remember scrambling over 
the mud sidewise like a crab, on hands and knees, and afterward 
picking up cartridges, silver, and a broken watch-chain, while my 
guide captured the horse. After being scraped, I again mounted, 
experiencing much trouble after this, for the horse, made fearful 
by his fall, snorted and fell to trembling at every soft place in 
the sand. At the frequent sloughs I was obliged to dismount 



148 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

and pound the horse with the branch of a tree from behind, 
while the old Indian dragged him ahead from in front. There 
were two long leagues of this kind of travelling, and we were 
much rejoiced when some straggling huts announced the ap- 
proach to the seaport of Dilam. A large portion of the way 
was through a mangrove forest, where I had good opportuni- 
ties for studying this peculiar tree, noticing how it sent out 
and down its aerial roots for a foothold in the water and at the 
border of the sea, and the entire absence of such adventitious 
shoots back a little distance on firm land. 

At the Puerta — a collection of thatched houses and a half- 
completed church — we sought for breakfast, and, seeing a 
fine-looking girl in a doorway, with a tray of fruit on her head, 
I asked if we could get it there. She said yes, and gave me 
some tortillas and frijoles; but the table was destitute of plate, 
knife, or spoon, though it was clean. After breakfast I re- 
clined in a hammock in an inner room, while the young girl 
swung in another a few feet distant, with a plump babe of a 
year or so in her lap. She was hardly fourteen, large and finely 
formed, with lovely oval face, and large dark eyes. She looked 
so young and childlike, despite her maturity and maternity, that 
I could hardly believe her the mother of such a bouncing child, 
and asked if it were really hers. " Si, sefior," she answered, 
slowly raising the lashes from her beautiful eyes, " es mio," — " it 
is mine," — and she added, with a charming frankness that aston- 
ished me, "And yours too if you will accept it." I had intended 
saying something neat in compliment before I got this answer, 
but such an excess of politeness as an offer of a joint interest 
in a child I had never seen before that hour fairly overwhelmed 
me, and I silently withdrew, settled my bill, mounted, and rode 
away. 

The two leagues between the port and Oilam proper were 
soon gone over, and I slept that night in the casa of Don Juan 
el viejo, — of Mr. John the old man. " Manana temprano " was 
the order I gave my Indian for the morrow, and for a wonder 
he appeared at daylight. It rained at intervals as we rode 
towards Timax, but the air was pure, and sweet with the odors 



NORTH COAST OF YUCATAN. 



149 



of flowers, and the many birds in the thickets enlivened our 
journey, so that we arrived at our destination without fatigue. 

I was in season to go the rounds with the Doctor among his 
patients of the village, and was pleased to find that he had lost 
but three during my absence, and had only two in a critical 
condition. One man, who had been expected to die of a pro- 
tracted debauch, the Doctor had physicked in vain, and this 
morning he mixed up some powerful calomel pills, quietly re- 
marking, "If these don't do the business, that Indian will pass 
in his checks before noon." They did not kill him, and my 
friend thereby added another laurel to his wreath, and had an- 
other convalescent to extend his fame as a medico. I could not 
refrain from reciting those classic lines of the poet : — 

" They prepared some pills of hydrargyrum, 
And their patient travelled to kingdom come." 

The last day of my stay the doctor-naturalist arranged for 
a grand poo, or turkey hunt, and early in the morning, after 
giving his patients some quieting medicines, we galloped out to 
a rancho, ten miles distant. It was almost entirely abandoned, 
being solely in charge of Indians. The mayoral, or head man, 
had on, like all the rest, simply a breech-cloth, hat, and san- 
dals, and carried a machete, or great knife. His skin was hard, 
brown, and polished. These poor people had nothing to eat 
except roots from the woods and what animals they could kill. 
The corn crop of this year had failed, and half the population 
of Eastern Yucatan were subsisting on roots, small game, liz- 
ards, and snakes. Speculators had got control of American 
corn, and many people were starving in consequence, though 
every steamer from the United States was bringing vast quanti- 
ties to Progreso, and notwithstanding the fact that in many of 
the interior States of Mexico corn was selling at twenty cents 
per bushel. 

We waited an hour under a big ceibo tree, while an Indian 
knocked down some coco nuts, and brought us pawpaw fruits 
as large as pumpkins, which tasted like muskmelons. Then we 
were taken across a large milpa, or cornfield, in the blazing sun, 



150 



TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 



and posted in a wood, while our Indians ranged about to beat 
up the game. In the dry, dead woods, which in this dry season 
much resemble our Northern forests in autumn, we waited for 
hours. My only visitors were a brown and golden humming- 
bird, a chachalaka, and some inquisitive blue-jays; but the 

Doctor got a shot at a 
flying gobbler, which 
escaped; and that 
ended the hunt. We 
walked back to the 
rancho in the heat, cov- 
ered with garrapatas, 
ticks that are so small 
as to be hardly visible, 
yet bite like red ants. 
In the evening we 
strolled through the 
town, seeing many 
pretty faces, as at that 
time the ladies appear, 
and sit in their door- 
ways, and chat and 
smoke. 

The next morning 
the Indians brought 
in three turkeys, the 
result of our inciting 
them to hunt for them, 
and among them was 
one fine old gobbler, 
whose plumage was resplendent with sheen of polished copper 
and gold, who had two buckshot through the lungs. This was 
undoubtedly the one the Doctor had shot, and which the wily 
Indians had tracked to its hiding-place after our departure. 
This magnificent bird, representing the finest of his race, the 
Doctor presented to me as a souvenir of the occasion ; his 
assistant aided me in skinning and preserving it, and it is now 




^&a i-^ M v.^ 



FRUIT-SELLER OF YUCATAN. 



NORTH COAST OF YUCATAN. 151 

in the fine collection of Wheaton Seminary, at Norton, Massa- 
chusetts. My friend had a " corner" on these ocellated turkeys, 
having killed and bought over one hundred. All were shipped 
to Paris, to a large dealer in bird skins, who supplied the mu- 
seums of Europe. Never before had so many been sent to the 
museums, though even now there are not a dozen in the United 
States. 

Since my departure, the Doctor has returned to his home in 
the North. If he can be prevailed upon to prepare his adven- 
tures for publication, the record of his three years' sojourn 
in the solitary forests of Yucatan, the world will be delighted 
with the richest mine of sylvan and aboriginal lore ever opened 
to the public. 

The events above narrated occurred in 1881. Two years later, 
I unexpectedly met my friend in New Mexico, and passed a 
week with him in a cosy log cabin which he had erected in a 
canon, nine miles above the ancient city of Santa Fe. There I 
saw, a thousand miles distant from their habitat, many of the 
animals (in skins and feathers) which we had collected in the 
wilds of Yucatan; I slept in the same hammock, and upon 
the same tiger-skin; and our talk, as we lay awake at night, 
was almost exclusively of the historic peninsula and its delight- 
ful inhabitants. 

The correo, or mail-coach, left at two in the afternoon for 
Merida, with myself and two Yucatecos as passengers. In 
learning that they were Yucatecos I naturally inferred that they 
were gentlemen, as they were, and that they would linger at 
every possible point on the road, which they did, first at a fiesta, 
where there had been a bull-fight, corrida de toros, and then 
at a dance. We reached the town house of the General just in 
time for dinner, stayed with him an hour or two, parted from 
him with an affectionate embrace, and arrived at Motul at dark. 
Here my companions ordered supper, refusing to let me pay 
for it, or share in the expense, saying that I was a stranger 
and their companion, and that it was their duty to see me 
through. 

We changed mules at Motul, and galloped nearly the whole 



152 



TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 



distance to Merida, stopping now and then to stretch our limbs 
and smoke. As there were four of us, including the driver, the 
volan was full. There was no room for reclining, and we were 
cramped in unnatural positions throughout the long twenty- 
leagues. It was one o'clock in the morning, by the dim light 
of a waning moon, that we entered the suburbs of the capital, 
and waked the echoes of the silent streets by driving furiously 
to the Plaza. 




BOOK II. 



CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN MEXICO. 



" Thou Italy of the Occident ! 
Land of flowers and summer climes, 
Of holy priests and horrid crimes ; 
Land of the cactus and sweet cocoa ; 
Richer than all the Orient 
In gold and glory, in want and woe, 
In self-denial, in days misspent, 
In truth and treason, in good and guilt, 
In ivied ruins and altars low, 
In battered walls and blood misspilt ; 
Glorious, gory Mexico !" 



IX. 



PALENQUE AND THE PHANTOM CITY. 

A S part and portion of the great republic of Mexico, the 
•*-*■ distant province of Yucatan deserves more than the mere 
mention it usually gets from passing travellers ; but, lying as it 
does on the way between two great countries whose centres are 
eagerly sought, it is generally passed by. Differing essentially 
from the dominant States in everything relating to soil, agricul- 
ture, aspect of surface, and even the character and manners of 
its people, it merits a volume by itself, instead of these few 
chapters. Passing in review the forty days passed in Yucatan, I 
confess myself fairly in love with its people. This was the senti- 
ment with which I left its territory, and which time and subse- 
quent experiences have only strengthened. 

Without mentioning any other quality than their universal 
honesty, I declare this in itself enough to excite the admiration 
of any traveller. To be able to journey, as I did, over many 
leagues of country unarmed, to be able to leave one's portable 
property exposed wherever one stopped, without a thought of it 
till one's destination was reached, assured that it would arrive in 
safety, is enough to cause any man in his senses to hold these 
people in affectionate remembrance. On the eve of departure, 
then, I would extend to them the hand of friendship, — ay, of 
affection ; with the assurance that one stranger, at least, will 
long remember their many amiable traits. 

The steamer was signalled; like every one that had passed 
for two months, it was full of engineers for the great railroads of 
Mexico, all hurrying forward to the capital, that wonderful city 
in the mountain valley. It was not strange, then, that I should 
have felt impatient to join that eager throng, and to hasten 



156 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

onward, where the pulse of human activity was beating more 
strongly. 

As has been observed, Yucatan possesses few natural attrac- 
tions in the shape of scenery, and its coast is no better than the 
interior ; low, flat, uninviting, save only where a clump of palms 
rises above the sands. 

Leaving Progreso in the evening, the next morning finds us off 
Campeche, ten miles from shore. It is the misfortune of this 
rather famous port that it has no harbor, — that, in fact, no vessel 
of any considerable size can approach within five miles of land. 
It is hence difficult to say, in the morning, which of the walled 
towns glaring white on shore is Campeche ; but as the sun gets 
around to the westward, in the afternoon, the veritable one stands 
out, like a city of marble, against hills of green. Square white 
buildings are then plainly visible, and cathedral towers ; and 
other towns shine along the coast, which is high, and apparently 
dotted with gardens. According to the Mexican law, the steamer 
is obliged to remain at least twelve hours in or off a port, and 
this delay gives us a chance to take a peep at Campeche, though 
through another's spectacles. We learn that it is a finely built 
city, though in a hot and not over-healthy locality. The char- 
acter of the surface of the province is similar to that of Yucatan, 
though rising higher, and everywhere may be found peculiar 
subterraneos , or caverns. The city, indeed, is built above some 
very extensive ones, once used as catacombs, in which have 
been found mummies and idols. 

Below Campeche is the isolated town of Champoton, where 
occurred, in 15 17, the bloodiest battle that preceded the advent 
of Cortes upon this coast, when the Indians attacked Cordova, 
and killed or wounded all of his party save one. Below this 
deserted country is the Laguna de Terminos, and the low, un- 
healthy coast region famous the world over as producing vast 
quantities of logwood. Carmen is the headquarters for the log- 
wood-cutters, situated on an island at the mouth of the great 
lagoon of Terminos. The sculptured tablet, of which mention 
is made farther on, was shipped from Carmen, by the United 
States consul resident there, to the Smithsonian Institution. 



PALENQUE AND THE PHANTOM CITY. 



157 



Leaving Campeche, the steamer moves slowly on to Frontera, 
at the mouth of the river Tabasco, which once bore, and ought 




1 Palace. 

2 Temple of the Three Tablets. 

3 Temple of the Beau Relief. 



4 Temple of the Cross. 

5 Temples of the Sun. 

6 Ruined Pyramids. 



7 Aqueduct. 

8 Ruins. 

9 Ruins. 



to retain, the name of Grijalva, who discovered it in 15 18, — 
where the green and muddy waters, laden with the branches and 



158 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

trunks of trees, proclaim a stream of great volume, draining an 
area covered with tropical vegetation. The anchorage is six 
miles off a low and densely-wooded coast, with two breaks in 
it where the river comes out to the sea. A small steamer comes 
out here, which takes freight and passengers to the coast town, 
Frontera, and also to San Juan Bautista, the capital city of Ta- 
basco, eighteen leagues up the river, the fare to shore being five 
dollars, and to San Juan twelve. 

Another point of historic interest now claims our attention, 
for here it was that Cortes encountered the first determined 
resistance to his arms, and in the town, which he subsequently 
captured, he obtained that treasure so precious to him and his 
army, Marina, the Tabascan princess. Cortes landed here, and, 
drawing his sword, took possession of the country in the name 
of his Majesty the King of Spain, and made three cuts in a great 
ceiba tree (which may yet be standing, for they live to a great 
age) in witness thereof, declaring himself ready to defend it, 
against any one who denied his Majesty's claim, with the sword 
and shield he then held. A terrible battle shortly after ensued, 
in which cavalry were first used on the soil of Mexico. The 
Indians fought with incredible bravery, until Cortes and his small 
body of horse appeared in their rear, when they were panic- 
stricken, thinking horse and rider one fearful being, and fled in 
dismay. It was on this occasion that there appeared (according 
to the historian Gomara) the glorious apostle St. James, riding 
on a dappled horse. Honest old Bernal Diaz, whose narrative 
I am following, says he did not see this apparition. But he 
adds, "Although I, unworthy sinner that I am, was unfit to 
behold either of those holy apostles (St. Peter and St. James), 
upwards of four hundred of us were present ; let their testimony 
be taken." 

After the Indians had tendered their submission, they were 
shown the horses, and when struck by their neighing were told 
that these wonderful creatures were angry because they had 
fought against them. The innocent natives then craved their 
pardon, and offered them turkey-hens and roses to eat, as did the 
Indians of Peten some years later. 



PALENQUE AND THE PHANTOM CITY. 1 59 

By sailing up the river Tabasco, a point may be reached, in 
the season of high water, whence a journey of two days over- 
land will bring one to those grandest of Mexican ruins, the 
group of Palenque; and it is but a few days' travel to Chia- 
pas and the Pacific. 

" Unlike Copan, yet buried, too, 'mid trees, 
Upspringing there for sumless centuries, 
Behold a royal city, vast and lone, 
Lost to each race, to all the world unknown, 
Like famed Pompeii, 'neath her lava bed, 
Till chance unveiled the ' City of the Dead.' 
Palenque ! 1 seat of kings ! as o'er the plain, 
Clothed with thick copse, the traveller toils with pain, 
Climbs the rude mound the shadowy scene to trace, 
He views in mute surprise thy desert grace. 
At every step some palace meets his eye, 
Some figure frowns, some temple courts the sky : 
It seems as if that hour the verdurous earth, 
By genii struck, had given these fabrics birth, 
Save that old Time hath flung his darkening pall 
On each tree-shaded tower and pictured wall." 

The poet has not exaggerated the beauties of Palenque, nor 
has pen yet adequately described them : they are indescriba- 
ble. The buildings are situated eight miles from the small vil- 
lage of Palenque, and, though Cortes must have passed quite near 
them on his march to Honduras, in 1524, neither he nor his gar- 
rulous companion, Diaz, makes mention of them, and it was not 
till 1750 that they were discovered. 

In 1787 they were explored, by order of the king of Spain, 
by Captain Antonio del Rio, whose report was only finally pub- 
lished in London in 1822. In 1807 they were investigated by 
Captain Dupaix, at the instance of Charles IV. of Spain ; but 
his laborious work was not given to the light till 1834-35, in 
Paris. It is to the American traveller, J. L. Stephens, that we 
owe the best account of their present appearance, this gentle- 
man having visited them in 1839-40, when on his way, for the 
first time, to Yucatan. 

In Palenque we find those mounds, or terraced hillocks, upon 

1 Pronounced Pa-len-kay. 



i6o 



TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 



which the buildings are erected, high and of vast dimensions. 
The "Palace" is the grandest structure, and is 238 feet in length 
by 180 feet deep, while its height is but 25 feet. It stands on 
an artificial elevation of oblong shape, 40 feet high, 310 feet 
front and 260 feet at each end. It was constructed of stone, 
with 'a mortar of lime and sand, and the whole front was cov- 
ered with stucco, and painted in red, blue, yellow, black, and 
white Another building, the Casa de Piedras, is situated in a 




PALENQUE RESTORED. 

similar position to the Casa del Adivino in Uxmal, on a pyram- 
idal structure, no feet high on the slope; and is "remarkably 
rich in stucco, bas-reliefs, and tablets of hieroglyphics." 

These hieroglyphics, says Stephens, "are the same (?) as 
were found at Copan and Quirigua. The intermediate country 
is now occupied by races of Indians speaking many different 
languages, and entirely unintelligible to each other ; but there 
is room for the belief that the whole of this country was once 
occupied by the same race, speaking the same language, or at 
least having the same written characters." 

It would not be out of place here to introduce the specula- 



PALENQUE AND THE PHANTOM CITY. l6l 

tions of the French naturalist, Morelet, upon the ruins and the 
people who once occupied them : " The analogy can no longer 
be denied between these ruins and the monuments of Mexico, 
which tradition attributes to the Toltecs. These comparisons 
show the action and preponderance of a common race over the 
whole territory lying between Cape Catoche (Yucatan) and the 
Mexican table-land We find that the Toltecs, in the mid- 
dle of the seventh century, were in possession of Anahuac, where 
civilization probably developed itself. Later they abandoned 
this region and emigrated in a southeasterly direction, — that is 
to say, into the provinces of Oaxaca and Chiapas. It is easy 
enough, therefore, to arrive at the conclusion that Palenque was 
founded at this time (?), and was consequently contemporaneous 
with Mitla (in Oaxaca). Says Herrera: ' While the inhabitants 
of Mayapan (Yucatan) lived in peace and prosperity, there 
arrived from the south, from the heights of Lacandon, a large 
number of people, originally from Chiapas, who, after having 
wandered forty years in the wilderness, finally settled ten leagues 
from Mayapan, at the base of the mountains, where they built 
magnificent edifices and conformed to the customs of the coun- 
try If the undisputed analogy be considered which exists 

between the ancient monuments of Mexico and the ruins of 
Palenque, and between the latter and those of Yucatan, and if 
we consider also the geographical position of these ruins, spread 
over the line of Toltec emigration, and bearing evidence of an- 
tiquity, the more marked because they are less distant from the 
point of departure, — if all these be considered, it will doubtless 
be granted that these different works were from the hands of 
the same people who successively built Tula, Mitla, Palenque, 
Mayapan, and all the edifices now in ruins on this peninsula." 

Perhaps it will seem to later investigators more in accordance 
with discoveries, recent and in the past, to ascribe to Palenque 
the honor of being the original starting-place of the Toltecs. 
We should then read, as cities built in the order named, Palen- 
que, Mayapan, Mitla, Tula, &c. ; and we should also infer a 
greater antiquity than the above-cited writer assumes, and hold 
that, though the first intimation of the Toltecs is as moving from 



1 62 



TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 



the north southward, yet they may have primarily emigrated 
northward from Palenque, in ages past, now lost in obscurity, 
from which they only emerge in historic times as returning to 

their former home. 

We are all, presuma- 
bly, acquainted with the 
relation, by the learned 
Brasseur de Bourbourg, 
of the native tradition of 
Votan. This personage, 
accompanied by chiefs 
and followers, landed, 
many years before the 
opening of the Christian 
era, upon the shores of 
the Laguna de Termi- 
nos. He ascended the 
great Usumacinta River, 
a tributary of the Ta- 
basco, and near one of 
its affluents laid the foun- 
dations of a large city, 
which became the me- 
tropolis of a mighty 
empire. It was called 
Nachan, the city of ser- 
pents, and was none 
other than the beautiful 
Palenque, whose ruins alone we now gaze upon. 

Alas for the vanity of human speculation and the insecurity 
of tradition ! Theories, as I have previously remarked some- 
where, are almost as various as the writers and investigators 
who have studied these ruins. There seems, however, to be a 
general belief that this region was the seat of a vast and influ- 
ential theocratic empire. Upon the walls are sculptures which 
speak to us in an unknown language, hieroglyphics, and the 
chiselled types of a people long since departed. Regarding 




STUCCO ORNAMENT. 



PALENQUE AND THE PHANTOM CITY. 1 63 

these, again, a writer of the early part of this century, Galindo, 
says : " The physiognomies of the human figure in alto-relievo 
indicate that they represent a race not differing from the mod- 
ern Indians ; they were, perhaps, taller than the latter, who are 
of a middle, or rather small stature, compared with Europeans. 
There are also found among the ruins stones for grinding maize, 
shaped exactly like those employed to-day by the Central Ameri- 
can and Mexican Indians. They consist of a stone slab (metatl') 
with three feet, all made from one piece, and a stout stone roller, 
with which the women crush the maize on the slab. Though 
the Maya language is not spoken in all its purity in this neigh- 
borhood, I am of opinion that it was derived from the ancient 
people that left these ruins, and that it is one of the ancient lan- 
guages of America. It is still used by most of the Indians, and 
even by the other inhabitants of the eastern part of Tabasco, 
Peten, and Yucatan. Books are printed in Maya (the language 
of Yucatan) and the clergy preach and confess the Indians in 
the same language." 

These observations are thrown out, not to impede the progress 
of the reader, but to stimulate thought upon a subject which is 
constantly demanding and receiving increased attention from 
European, as well as from American scholars. In a ruined 
structure known as " Casa Number Two " — it is needless to say 
that this is not the name bestowed by its builders — is a portion 
of the famous sculpture known as the " Palenque Tablet," con- 
taining the figure of the cross, about which archaeologists have 
wrangled long and bitterly. A curious history pertains to this 
slab, which, so far as is known, is as follows. It was described 
and figured by Del Rio in 1787, and subsequently by all who 
visited the ruins, — Dupaix, Waldeck, Stephens, Charnay. In 
1842, a portion of the sculptured slab was sent to the United 
States, where it now finds a resting-place in the National Museum 
at Washington. This portion is that represented in the right of 
the engraving, as containing the carven glyphs, and situated back 
of the human figure making the offering to the bird on the cross 
(see restored representation of the Palenque Cross, taken from 
the Report). To Professor Rau, of the Smithsonian Institu- 



164 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

tion, 1 we are indebted for the restoration of the sculpture as it 
must have originally appeared in the " Sanctuary of the Cross," 
at Palenque. So that, through his diligent labors, though one 
portion of this valuable sculpture was torn by vandal hands from 
its place and sent to the United States, and another lies buried 
beneath the mould of the Tabascan forest, while but one third 
remains affixed in its original position in the wall, an exact 
picture of this great work as a whole is now placed before the 
readers of this volume. The description of it by Stephens is 
perhaps as good as any. " The principal subject of this tablet 
is the cross. It is surmounted by a strange bird, and loaded 
with indescribable ornaments. The two figures are evidently 
those of important personages. They are well drawn, and in 
symmetry of proportion are perhaps equal to many that are 

carved on the walls of the temples of Egypt Both are 

looking towards the cross, and one seems in the act of making 
an offering, perhaps of a child; all speculations on the subject 
are of course entitled to little regard, but perhaps it would not 
be wrong to ascribe to these personages a sacerdotal character. 
The hieroglyphics doubtless explain all. Near them are other 
hieroglyphics, which remind us of the Egyptian mode for record- 
ing the name, history, office, or character of the persons repre- 
sented. This tablet of the cross has given rise to more learned 
speculation than perhaps any others found at Palenque." 

We will not go into these speculations regarding the pre- or 
post-Columbian introduction of the cross into America, further 
than to mention that every evidence tends to prove the former ; 
although we may not, perhaps, subscribe to the statement of a 
certain author, that it was originally brought here by St. Thomas, 
who is said to have preached to the Mexican heathen away back 
in the by-gones. 

Professor Rau published an interesting comparison between 
the glyphs sculptured on the Tablet of the Cross and the sym- 
bols of the celebrated " Maya alphabet " of Landa, one of the 
first bishops of Yucatan. He found many points of contact 

1 " The Palenque Tablet," — Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge, — by 
Charles Rau. Washington, 1879. 



PALENQUE AND THE PHANTOM CITY. 



167 



between the two, and such differences as would naturally arise 
between the writing of a language at epochs perhaps thousands 
of years apart. Regarding the stucco ornaments, which are 
characteristic of Palenque, Stephens says : " The roof (of the 
Temple of the Cross) shows two slopes, the lower one of which 
was richly ornamented with stucco figures, plants, and flowers, 
but mostly ruined. Among them were the fragments of a beau- 
tiful head and of two bodies, in justness of proportion and sym- 
metry approaching the Greek models." The building containing 
this treasure, the Tablet, is on a pyramid 134 feet high on the 




iriHiiiiiiirii'Ji iijiif 
TEMPLE OF THE CROSS. 



slope, from the top of which a view extends, over a vast forest, 
to the Laguna de Terminos and the Gulf of Mexico. 

The country southwest of Yucatan, that portion of Guatemala 
west of the British colony of Belize, south of Campeche, and 
east of Chiapas and Tabasco, is an almost unexplored region. 
Here the aboriginal Indians roam with all the freedom of their 
ancestors before Spanish dominion. Somewhere in this wild 
region is situated the " mysterious city " described by Stephens 
and Morelet, said to have walls of silver which glisten so that 
they can be seen one hundred miles away, and to be still occu- 



168 



TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 



pied by the descendants of its 
original builders. The ruins of 
former races may be traced 
throughout all Southern Mexico, 
through Oaxaca, Chiapas, Ta- 
basco, and Yucatan, until they 
culminate in the latter State in 
the wonderful structures that are 
the amazement of the present 
generation ; but all are silent 
cities, — all their inhabitants de- 
parted, hundreds, perhaps thou- 
sands, of years ago. 

But here is said to be a veri- 
table aboriginal city, not only 
preserving its own people, but 
retaining all the ancient customs 
and rites of their progenitors. 

This is a region more worthy 
of investigation than the heart 
of Africa. To find the key to 
lost arts and manufactures, to 
find a people still preserving 
the rites of sacrifice, — this were 
enough to incite hundreds to 
exploration. 

Unfortunately, those who go 
in never return ! It is easy 
enough, apparently, to pene- 
trate to that city, but no one 
who has once been there has 
ever been known to reach the 
coast again. 

On the borders of that region 
is the wonderful Lake Peten, 
with its lovely town of Flores, on an island, in which the sim- 
ple inhabitants set up an effigy of a horse of the Spanish con- 




STATUE FROM PALENQUE. 



PALENQUE AND THE PHANTOM CITY. 



169 



querors, and deified it. Now what are the facts about that 
city? So far as we can learn, it was first made known to peo- 
ple outside of Mexico 
through the celebrated ^ 

archaeologist, Stephens. 
The cura of Quiche, an 
Indian town in Guate- 
mala, told him that he 
had seen it from the 
ridge of high moun- 
tains visible from that 
very place. The diffi- 
culties in the way ap- 
palled even an intrepid 
traveller like Stephens, 
and he shrank from un- 
dertaking its investiga- 
tion. That he firmly 
believed this story is ev- 
ident to any one reading 
the pages of his books. 
Later on, he sums up 
the result of his explo- 
rations, and says : " In 
fact, I conceive it to 
be not impossible that 
within this secluded re- 
gion may exist at this 
day, unknown to white 
men, a living, aboriginal 
city, occupied by relics 
of the ancient race, who 
still worship in the tem- 
ples of their fathers." 




STATU E FROM COPAN. 1 



1 A ruined city of Central America, on the Copan River, in Honduras. The 
ruins extend along the river for nearly two miles, and include a temple 624 feet 
l° n g> pyramidal structures, and colossal carven idols and altar stones. 



I/O TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

This was forty years ago. A few years later, a more adven- 
turous traveller than Stephens, Monsieur Arthur Morelet, 
entered this region by the river Usumacinta, and skirted the 
border of that supposed centre of ancient civilization. Being 
alone, his adventures are of a more fascinating character than 
those of Stephens, who seldom departed from certain lines of 
travel. He plunged at once into the dense forests that sur- 
round the territory of the Lacandones, travelling from the 
Gulf coast at Laguna de Terminos to Lake Peten, thence to 
Guatemala (the capital), thence to the Gulf of Honduras, and 
home via Havana. He spent several years in that country, and 
evidently believed in the existence of the " mysterious city." 

In an introduction to the English translation of the book 
written by the above-mentioned traveller, Mr. E. G. Squier thus 
speaks of this region, " lying between Chiapas, Tabasco, Yuca- 
tan, and the republic of Guatemala, and comprising a consider- 
able portion of each of these States, which, if not entirely blank, 
is only conjecturally filled up with mountains, lakes, and rivers. 
It is almost as unknown as the interior of Africa itself. We only 
know that it is traversed by nameless ranges of mountains, 
among which the great river Usumacinta gathers its waters 
from a thousand tributaries, before pouring them, in a mighty 
flood, into the Laguna de Terminos and the Gulf of Mexico. 
.... Within its depths, far off on some unknown tributary of 
the Usumacinta, the popular tradition of Guatemala and Chi- 
apas places that great aboriginal city, with its white walls shin- 
ing like silver in the sun, which the cura of Quiche affirmed he 
had seen with his own eyes from the tops of the mountains of 
Quezaltenango." 

But did the endeavors to find this sacred stronghold cease 
with Morelet? By no means. If we are to believe a Spanish 
memoir, written by Don Pedro Velasquez, of Guatemala, the 
stories circulated by Stephens stimulated two young men of 
Baltimore to set out on an expedition for its discovery. Pass- 
ing over the uneventful period of their voyage, we find them 
at last on the borders of the valley containing the object of 
their . search. The city in all its glory of glistening walls and 



PALENQUE AND THE PHANTOM CITY. 171 

magnificent statuary shone before them ; they entered its pre- 
cincts, after a skirmish with the Indians, and saw its mysteries. 
Endeavoring afterwards to escape, one of them was sacrificed 
upon the high altar of the sun, and the other so badly wounded 
that he died in the forests of Guatemala. Only Don Velasquez 
and a few trusty guides escaped to tell the story of their peril- 
ous adventures. This was thirty years ago, since which time, so 
far as we can learn, no successful attempt has been made. 1 

Imagine what a stimulant to an earnest explorer the possible 
discovery of this wonderful city offers ! It would be well worth 
a year of one's life even to look upon its walls, and another year 
would be a cheap purchase of a glimpse of its interior and peo- 
ple ! It took such a strong hold upon the writer, that he nar- 
rowly missed going on the search alone, when, in 1881, he found 
himself on the borders of that country, in Yucatan and in South- 
ern Mexico. Six years ago he was in correspondence with a 
well-known scientist in relation to an investigation of the adja- 
cent country, and later he made a proposition to enter that 
region, and to devote several years to a study of the people 
inhabiting it. 

It is his firm conviction that in no other way can be obtained 
the clew to the hieroglyphs that adorn the walls of those ruins 
in Yucatan and Guatemala. In no other way can we hope to 
obtain a knowledge of that strange people, — of their language, 
of their ancient arts and systems of government. 

Unfortunately, scientific authority did not coincide with the 
views expressed, or rather could not furnish the necessary funds 
for the purpose, and the writer went towards South America, 
where he remained nearly three years, engaged in ornithological 
labors. When he again made a proposition for an extended 
tropical trip, he was asked if he would accept the position 

1 We are not unacquainted with the recent alleged discovery, by M. Charnay, of 
ruins in the neighborhood of the Usumacinta, where he found an English traveller 
already in possession, and to which ruins he gave the name of "Lorillard City." 
But this, though an important discovery, was not in any sense an occupied city, nor 
did it add materially to our knowledge of those cities which lie buried in numbers 
in the immense forests of Tabasco and Guatemala. 



172 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

of naturalist to an Arctic exploring expedition; this was de- 
clined, and later filled acceptably by the gallant young New- 
comb, of Salem, whose adventures have been published, and are 
well known. 

Our scientific institutions seem bent upon wasting their en- 
ergies by dashing their heads against the icy barriers about 
the Pole. Why not turn their attention to the tropics, to that 
portion of our country where American civilization had its 
birth? 



X. 

VERA CRUZ AND JALAPA. 

T3ERHAPS I have sufficiently indicated the position of Pa- 
-*- lenque, and the way there, my object being merely to 
direct attention to this region so long forgotten ; for it has not 
been half explored. As it is far from our purpose to penetrate 
the wilds of Central America in search of somewhat mythical 
cities, but more in accordance with the times to jog along in the 
beaten track of travel, we will return to the coast, to Tabasco. 

Taking with him Marina, the Tabascan princess, as his mis- 
tress, (who soon became valuable as an interpreter, and subse- 
quently saved the Spanish army from destruction,) and a number 
of other captives, Cortes sailed westward and northward. Over 
the same route, though perhaps a little farther off shore, the 
steamers to-day take their course to Vera Cruz. About mid- 
way between Frontera and the port of Vera Cruz, the river 
Coatzcoalcos flows into the Gulf. This in itself were of no 
consequence, but that it indicates the narrowest portion of the 
continent north of Panama. Regarding this isthmus of Tehuan- 
tepec, it would be difficult to write anything new at the pres- 
ent day, for it has been before the public for many years as a 
claimant for a canal. Long before the days of Humboldt, this 
narrowing of the continent had drawn to it the eyes of the 
world. Though surveys have demonstrated the impracticability 
of a ship canal, they have shown the feasibility, even necessity, 
for a railroad. The distance across the isthmus is but little 
over one hundred miles, and a depression in the Cordilleras 
renders the grades next to nothing. This road is one that 
assumes more than sectional importance, and rises to the dig- 
nity of an international highway. Although it is also one of 



174 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

the few roads that would seem likely to benefit the builders, 
yet the American company engaged in the task failed, and it 
has reverted to the Mexican government. 

It is the region above described that is passed by on the way 
from Progreso to Vera Cruz ; a land richer in recollections of 
the past than possibilities for the future, but which will doubt- 
less share in the returning tide of prosperity that is now del- 
uging Mexico. 

Another morning finds us before another port, La Villa Rica 
de la Vera Cruz, — the Ricn City of the True Cross, — gate- 
way to the Mexican capital, through which, in times past, have 
poured those tides of wealth that have filled the coffers of Spain. 
It is a lovely picture this city presents from the sea, — the line 
of walls lying above and in front of stretches of sand dunes, 
capped here and there with verdure, but mostly bare and gray. 
These walls are tinted, red, yellow, blue, green, but are never 
allowed to glare out in ghastly white. And then its domes and 
turrets : twenty-two can be counted from the steamer's deck, 
some of shining porcelain, that' glisten like polished marble 
in the sunshine. The suburbs to the south seem even more 
attractive than the city, with low, red-roofed houses, groups of 
palms, and ruined forts. Down the coast stretch the wind-blown 
sandhills, — the medanos, — yellow, flecked with green, with 
coral reefs tossing the foam above the blue water, and the 
Island of Sacrifices — Isla de los Sacrificios — lying low to the 
eastward. 

Under the walls of the castle fortress, San Juan de Ulua, the 
steamer drops anchor, half a mile from the mole, where seems 
concentrated the life of the city. This castle is built upon a 
small barren island, upon which Juan de Grijalva landed, in 
June, 1 5 1 8. It being the day of the feast of St. John, the island 
was called San Juan de Ulua. The Spaniards found idols here, 
and vestiges of human sacrifices, offered, the Indians told them, 
by the natives of Culchua, or Ulua (Mexico). The construc- 
tion of the fortress is believed to have been begun in 1662, 
though spoken of in 1625, but not finished till 1796, when a 
light-tower (still standing) was added. Several inscriptions, 



VERA CRUZ AND JALAPA. 177 

bearing date respectively 1633, 1700, 1707, and 1778, attest 
the progress of various portions of the work. It is in shape 
a rather irregular parallelogram, with a small watch-tower, or 
rampart, on each one of its angles. Besides the guns of the 
structure proper, it has water batteries, and was considered at 
one time impregnable. It is half a mile from shore, and com- 
mands the city, which it has several times nearly reduced to 
ruins. It was held by the Spaniards until 1825, and remained 
loyal to the king of Spain for nearly four years after their ex- 
pulsion from the mainland. At present used as a prison for 
political offenders, it is especially dreaded by prisoners from the 
interior of the country, as incarceration there is almost sure to 
end in death, from disease engendered in its damp dungeons. 

If the coast is approached in clear weather, there may be 
seen that glorious apparition, the volcano of Orizaba, its profile 
sharply cut against the blue sky full sixty miles inland. Known 
to the ancient Aztecs as Ciltlaltepetl, or the Mountain of the 
Star, it was called by the Spanish sailors La Estrella de la 
Mar, — the Star of the Sea. And well it merits this latter title, 
since its crystal peak, borne on high 17,500 feet, is visible more 
than one hundred miles away. 

The half-mile or so between steamer and quay is soon gone 
over, in boats shaded by awnings and propelled by boatmen 
clad in immaculate garments of white, and you are soon ashore 
and inspecting the city. 

One of the hottest cities of the repub- 
lic, Vera Cruz is also the unhealthiest, 
and by some strange anomaly it is like- 
wise one of the cleanest. Streets white 
and clean are drained by gutters equally 
free from filth ; and if any refuse escapes 
the eye of the sanitary authorities, those 
other members of the board of health, 
the vultures, are sure to snatch it up and 

' r A ZOPILOTE. 

bear it away, or devour it on the spot. 

These valued birds are seen by hundreds, perched on every 

roof-top, and waddling through all the streets. They are called 




178 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

zopilotes, from the Aztec word zopilotl, and belong to the genus 
Catkartes, — two species, aura, or the turkey buzzard, and atra- 
tus, the black vulture. 

The Plaza is the only attractive point in the city ; and though 
it is small, it has marble walks and some wind-blown trees. The 
architecture is the same as that of all these cities of New Spain 
transplanted from the mother country, — a combination of Span- 
ish and Moorish that redeems the city from sameness and makes 
it interesting to a stranger. That the hotels are clean and fairly 
served, that there is a tramway with a single track traversing the 
city, that you run the risk of catching the vomito, or yellow 
fever, if you pass a night on shore, — all these items of infor- 
mation are given in the guide-books, and have become familiar 
to every traveller. 

There need be no exaggeration regarding the vomito, for 
there is scarcely room for any, in a city which has for many 
years been known as la ciudad de los muertos, — the city of the 
dead. The Vera-Cruzians claim that the death-rates are over- 
estimated, yet people enough succumb to " Yellow Jack," for 
all that, to make a stranger cautious how he exposes himself. 
Periodical visits from this dread visitor are as sure as taxes and 
death in its ordinary shape. In June, 1881, for instance, people 
were dying at the rate of one hundred a week. 

A clipping from a Mexican newspaper, of the date of my 
residence in the city of Mexico, will illustrate the extent to 
which this evil had spread, and was raging at that time : — 

" Pandora's box was not a circumstance to the evils which Vera Cruz 
contains. Advices from there state that .the yellow fever prevails to an 
extent unknown in other years. 

" Old residents are dead and dying, and medical aid is pronounced of 
no avail. Whole families are leaving for Jalapa and Orizaba. In addi- 
tion, the city has the typhoid and bilious fevers, small-pox, and several 
other pleasant adjuncts to agreeable living. The panic is very great." 

From my note-book of that date I extract the following : — 

" Forty deaths a day are reported from yellow fever and small-pox in 
Vera Cruz. It would seem as though no one would be left to carry on 



VERA CRUZ AND JALAPA. 1 79 

business in that ancient city ; yet it goes on the same, in spite of the dead 
and dying. A friend just up from the coast tells me that he saw eight 
bodies carried out the morning he arrived. Yet the residents there treat 
the matter lightly. The late American Consul, Dr. Trowbridge, who has 
had a successor appointed, after twelve years of service, retires in health, 
and laughing at the reports of fever. He is waiting for his successor. 
If I were that man I should let him wait, — at least till cooler weather 
came. Dr. Trowbridge and his family had yellow fever the first week 
they came to Vera Cruz, while his predecessor, who had held the office 
many years, and had resigned, died before he could leave the city. It 
is strange, yet I hear there were hundreds of applicants for that precari- 
ous consulship at Vera Cruz, where an escape from the clutches of ' Yel- 
low Jack' is an exception. Are offices, then, so scarce up North?" 

A week later the paper quoted from above contained this 
item : — 

" Hon. E. H. Rogers, of Nebraska, who was recently appointed Con- 
sul at Vera Cruz, died last Monday from the fatal effects of the climate. 

" Mr. Rogers had but just arrived, and had not entered upon the dis- 
charge of his duties when his death occurred. Much sorrow is felt in 
this city over the sad news. The funeral rites of the deceased were 
observed at the Evangelical Church of Vera Cruz." 

I was in the city of Mexico when the news of the appoint- 
ment of the new Consul reached us there, and remember that 
we all speculated as to the probable length of his stay, expect- 
ing he would soon be taken with the vomito, but little dreaming 
of such a fatal termination. Again, in returning through Vera 
Cruz in September, on my way back to the United States, I 
experienced the welcome hospitality of the Trowbridges, and 
under date of that visit find the following entry in my note- 
book: — 

" At the United States consulate, all the old family who have been 
there so long, and have made Americans so welcome, were residing, 
except Dr. Trowbridge, the head of it, who was absent in the United 
States. The sad ending of the recent attempt to replace him, by the 
death of his successor after but thirteen days' residence, should read a 
lesson to those in office in Washington, who appoint men to foreign sta- 
tions for which they are not qualified nor acclimated. The twelve years' 



l8o TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

residence of Dr. Trowbridge here as our Consul, during which he has 
discharged the duties of the office faithfully, and won respect from every, 
body, should entitle him to a reappointment. It is impossible for one 
not acclimated to reside in this city long without receiving a visit from 
the vomito, which may prove fatal. The Doctor and his family have 
passed through many bad seasons, they have all had the fever, and it is 
to be hoped they may be spared yet many years to live in a place they 
seem to like." 

Though Vera-Cruzians deny that the vomito is endemic here, 
it has existed too long in this place to have their assertion be- 
lieved. The oldest description of yellow fever is that of a Por- 
tuguese physician, who observed it in Brazil, between 1687 and 
1694; and its first appearance in Mexico is said by the histo- 
rian Clavigero to have been in 1725. Even the best of our 
physicians disagree as to the origin, and even the contagious 
character, of the vomito ; hence, we will not discuss this vexed 
question. But it would seem that the latest theory, that of a 
South American physician, that it is propagated by germs from 
the soil in which fever victims have been buried, and thus ren- 
dered endemic, was more nearly correct than any other yet 
advanced. It has been noted that it rages more violently in 
some seasons than in others ; and Humboldt stated that an 
intimate connection was always observed between the march of 
diseases and the variations of atmospheric temperature. " Two 
seasons only are known at Vera Cruz, — that of the north winds 
(Jos nortes), from the autumnal to the vernal equinox, and that 
of the south winds, or breezes (drisas), between March and Sep- 
tember. The month of January is the coldest in the year, be- 
cause it is farthest from the two periods in which the sun passes 
through the zenith of Vera Cruz (the 16th of May and the 27th 
of July). The vomito generally begins to rage in that term 
when the mean temperature of the month reaches 75 Fahren- 
heit. In December, January, and February, the heat remains 
below this limit; and, accordingly, it seldom happens that the 
yellow fever does not entirely disappear in that season, when 
a very sensible cold is frequently felt." 

The last and the first months of the year, then, are the safest 






VERA CRUZ AND JALAPA. l8l 

in which to pass through Vera Cruz, and the midsummer months 
the most dangerous. Although the fever commences in May, 
it is generally at its worst in August and September, as it re- 
quires a certain time for the germs of the disease to develop. 
The disease first attacks strangers in the country, especially 
those from a colder climate, where frost occurs ; and it has been 
observed by Humboldt that among people from the table-lands 
of Mexico the mortality is relatively greater than among visitors 
coming from over the sea. 

A stay in Vera Cruz even of a few hours is sufficient for one 
to contract the contagion, during the season of fever, and the 
greatest precautions must be taken by those who are compelled 
to run the gantlet in the summer months. We have had many 
lamentable examples of late years, one of the most to be 
deplored being that of General Ord, our brave army officer, 
whose business and family interests took him to Mexico, and 
who died in Havana, of fever contracted at Vera Cruz. I have 
purposely digressed from our line of march to repeat the warn- 
ing to would-be visitors to Mexico, not to pass through Vera 
Cruz in the summer season. 

Once a person has had the fever, he generally has immunity 
from further attack, and the old residents of Vera Cruz laugh 
at its approach, and pursue their avocations without seriously 
regarding it. This is why they cling so strongly to this pesti- 
lential seaport, since the transfer of its business to a new and 
more healthy locality has often been urged, and always by them 
strenuously resisted. 

General Grant, President of the Mexican Southern Railroad, 
has encountered great opposition from them because he pro- 
posed having the Gulf terminus of his line at Anton Lizardo. a 
healthy locality, with a comparatively good harbor, some dis- 
tance down the coast. His improvements are now going on at 
that place, and when they are finished, and railway connection 
is made with the table-land, Vera Cruz will be left to occupy 
the position it richly deserves, as a forsaken charnel-house of 
mouldering bones. Its roadstead is notoriously poor, affording 
no protection to the vessels coming there, although the famous 



1 82 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

island of Ulua, containing a fortress costing $16,000,000, lies to 
windward. Nearly all the business is conducted by French and 
German merchants, who have risked their lives in their attempts 
at acclimatization, and are now richly rewarded by large and 
increasing fortunes. 

Another thing to encounter, equally dreadful in its way with 
the fever, is the customs duty. Though it is an undeniable fact 
that the merchants of the country are robbed by wholesale, 
sometimes paying duties on goods to the amount of twice 
their original cost, yet the traveller is rarely molested, One 
should not fail to pay a deserved tribute to the Mexican cus- 
toms official, who is ever courteous and attentive. He does not 
seem to bear that surly antipathy towards travellers which his 
brother official of the United States almost invariably displays. 
At the very ports of this country, before you have fairly made 
the acquaintance of the people, you will perceive in them a 
demeanor in most refreshing contrast to that of the habihies of 
the docks of New York. The traveller is permitted to enter all 
his personal apparel free of duty, as well as two watches, two 
revolvers, — in fact, everything that he really needs. A great 
many things he does not need may be taken in also, for the 
official's pay is meagre, and he loves to gaze upon the portraits 
of American worthies as depicted on the faces of our national 
currency Remember, however, that cinco pesos (five dollars) 
is sufficient to provide said official with many luxuries, as the 
rate of exchange is sometimes as high as twenty per cent in our 
favor. At the verge of the voyage, also, it would be well to 
caution the traveller that he must, if requested, state to the 
proper authorities his name and profession. This done, he 
may be at liberty to wander at his own sweet will. Vaya con 
Dios ! — Go, and the Lord be with you ! 

The reader hardly needs to be reminded that Vera Cruz was 
virtually founded by Cortes ; that his landing-place was on the 
city's site ; that he here disembarked his troops, destroyed his 
ships, and entered upon the march inland that has made his 
name as famous as that of Alexander and from which he re- 
turned only when he had conquered the country. 



VERA CRUZ AND JALAPA. 1 85 

" It was on Holy Thursday, of the year 15 19," says the stout 
old chronicler, Bernal Diaz, whom we shall encounter at inter- 
vals throughout our journey, " that we arrived at the port of 
San Juan de Ulua, and Cortes hoisted the royal standard." He 
first landed on the island now crowned by the castle, where 
Grijalva had preceded him by a year. Though the first build- 
ings erected by the Spaniards were upon this spot, yet the site 
was changed several times, before it was finally fixed at the 
present location in the year 1600. 

Though Vera Cruz has suffered probably above every other 
city in Mexico, from the combined influences of plagues, pirates, 
and hurricanes, yet to-day it exists as a prosperous and well- 
conditioned city. As the only port on the eastern coast with 
any semblance of a harbor, it has monopolized Mexican com- 
merce with foreign nations, and has always been opulent and 
animated. In olden times, like Havana and Cartagena, it was 
exposed to the assaults of pirates and buccaneers, into whose 
hands it fell in 1568, and again in 1683, when the pirates Agra- 
mont and Lorencillo sacked the city, and destroyed more than 
three hundred of the inhabitants. In 161 8 a terrible fire swept 
over it. 

In 1803 the first great road was commenced to the city of 
Mexico, there having been till that time little more than the foot- 
paths worn by mules and asses coming down from the moun- 
tains. In the war for independence Vera Cruz was the theatre 
of strife between the opposing factions on many occasions, and 
in 1822 and 1823 was terribly bombarded by the Spaniards in 
the fortress of San Juan. The city bears the distinguishing title 
of " heroic," especially granted it by Congress, in honor of the 
many sieges it has gallantly sustained. In 1838 city and castle 
were attacked by the French without any provocation ; and 
in March, 1847, suffered from a cannonade by the American 
fleet, the effects of which may be seen to-day. In 1856 a hurri- 
cane destroyed nearly all the shipping in the harbor; in 1859 
Juarez, the republican President, landed here after his circular 
voyage around Mexico, and here he was besieged by General 
Miramon. In 1861 the "intervention" fleet made its appear- 



1 86 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

ance, and the city was in possession of the French and Imperi- 
alists until 1867, when the cause of freedom triumphed, and 
nothing has since occurred to interrupt its career of commercial 
prosperity. 

The great State of Vera Cruz, of which this city is the com- 
mercial emporium, comprises the central portion of the Gulf 
coast of Mexico, and lies mainly in the hot country producing 
the fruits and vines of the tropics. Throughout its whole ex- 
tent bordering the coast, it maintains a reputation for insalu- 
brity, and is undesirable to live in. As a place of refuge from 
the heat and vomito, and the insect plagues that sometimes 
annoy the inhabitants of the coast, the town of Jalapa — pro- 
nounced Halapa — has an extensive reputation. Situated at a 
height above the sea of over four thousand feet, it is yet only 
seventy miles from Vera Cruz, and is reached in one day. 

Having a few days to spare before leaving for the capital, I 
resolved to look upon this town in the mountains, celebrated 
for the beauty of its scenery, its women, and its flowers. At 
three in the morning the porter of the hotel drew me forth 
from the cell which the proprietor had assigned me as a bed- 
room, the night before, and led the way to the station, through 
streets that were dark and cool, but heavy with vile odors. We 
went by steam to San Juan, sixteen miles, over flat plains, and 
then changed for a tramway, which does the remaining sixty 
miles or so to Jalapa. At first we passed through a section of 
rich land ; but as the ascent commenced, vegetation was parched 
and dry ; yet there was everywhere a blossom, though few birds, 
and no butterflies. Three cars composed our train, divided re- 
spectively into first, second, and third class, and each one drawn 
by four mules. We made but one stop before reaching the 
Puente Nacional, — the National Bridge, — a magnificent via- 
duct, under which flowed a large river, where a stone fort com- 
manded the approach for half a mile or so on either side. The 
old Spanish road, paved and curbed, over which General Scott 
marched from Vera Cruz to Jalapa, on his way to Mexico, is 
the same one we now take ; but it is wellnigh abandoned by 
teams, nearly all freight passing over the tramway Near this 



VERA CRUZ AND JALAPA. 



IS/ 



bridge are the ruins 
of Santa Anna's ha- 
cienda, and along 
the road beyond on 
both sides of it, 
we passed numerous 
black crosses, erect- 
ed over the graves 
of murdered men, 
buried where they 
fell. Forty miles on 
our journey brought 
us to Rinconada, 
where the mules were 
changed for the sec- 
ond time, and where 
a good breakfast was 
served. 

In this small, out- 
of-the-way place, a 
sight greeted my 
eyes that rendered 
me for the moment 
speechless. I have 
already spoken of the 
great influx of engi- 
neers into this coun- 
try ; they crowded 
every steamer, and 
worried the lives out 
of every officer on 
board by criticisms 
of the managemeut 
of the machinery. 
Having seen these 
knights of the theod- 
olite on board ship, 




1 88 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

dressed in fine clothes, groaning under the weight of massive 
gold chains and chronometers, — men who shaved once every 
other day, got their boots blacked by the porter, and con- 
stantly threw out such like evidences of familiarity with a bank 
account, — having witnessed all this, I was not prepared for 
what I saw at that small station, where the mules kindly halted 
to allow us dusty travellers a chance to wash the dust out of 
our throats. It was this: a young man leaning against the 
doorpost. 

Stalwart young men and doorposts are not uncommonly met 
with together, as many a young woman can testify; but it 
was not the young man especially, nor the doorpost, that riv- 
eted my gaze, but his costume. Beneath a great sombrero, 
with a brim little less than a yard wide, stood a woollen shirt 
and leather breeches, girt about with a pistol-belt full of car- 
tridges, and stuck around with revolvers ; a rifle leaned against 
the left arm, while the right hand of the owner of all this furni- 
ture was stroking a beard belonging to a countenance not at all 
unfamiliar. While I was beating my brains to recall where I had 
met this handsome ruffian before, summoning up Buffalo Bill, 
Davy Crockett, the ghost of Texas Jack, and all the rangers of 
the prairie that had crossed my track, this formidable being 
hailed me. He called me by name, and extended a palm horny 
with the blisters of two weeks in the field with compass and line. 
It was Smith, fellow-passenger on a previous steamer, who had 
exchanged a spick-and-span New York suit for the garb of the 
Mexican, and who wore girt about his loins the implements of 
warfare peculiar to the land of the Mexican ; his countenance, 
which he was so careful to keep from being sun-burnt when on 
board steamer, was now a flaring red, and his hair, which he 
was wont to anoint with oil and part in the middle, was frowzy, 
and proclaimed by stray hairs from another species of animal, 
here and there, the color of the blanket he last slept in. As 
soon as I had discovered my friend in this disguise, and became 
convinced that it was not a highwayman lying in wait for my 
gold, we went in and cemented our friendship in the usual 
manner. 



VERA CRUZ AND JALAPA. 1 89 

Fifty-five miles from the coast is Cerro Gordo, famous in the 
annals of the Mexican war, — a narrow pass between very high 
hills. Regarding the passage of Cerro Gordo, an English trav- 
eller reluctantly yields to our troops the following praise : 
" That ten thousand Americans should have been able to get 
through the mountain passes, and to reach the capital at all, is 
an astonishing thing ; and after that, their successes in the val- 
ley of Mexico follow as a matter of course. They could never 
have crossed the mountains but for a combination of circum- 
stances." 

The road is everywhere commanded ; there was no other 
trail, — hills and mountains on every side; so General Scott had 
to throw skirmishers along all these ridges before his army 
could pass. It is a long distance through, and must have been 
a perilous pass, with just width enough between high cliffs for 
the road to run. Not far from the narrowest portion, a trail 
leads off to the left, up to a ridge where cannon are yet found, 
and behind which Santa Anna lost his leg, — his wooden one. 
A few tile-covered, tumble-down shanties constitute the hamlet 
of Cerro Gordo, half a mile farther on. 

The land is now of the uplands. Cerro Gordo guards the pas- 
sage from the hot lowlands to the salubrious temperate region ; 
streams now run by the track, good pasturage commences, and 
the way is all up hill. Some four miles farther we entered roll- 
ing upland pastures, where corn was growing, and a straggling 
hacienda was visible now and again. Beyond this the ridges are 
covered with hard woods, corn and sugar-cane grow side by side 
in the vales, fields of barley are spread invitingly about, and, as 
we gallop into Jalapa, we cannot but notice the groves of coffee 
trees by which the houses are surrounded. 

At the Hotel Vera-Cruzana, a low building about an open 
court with fountains and flowers, we obtained good accommo- 
dation, at the termination of our ride of nearly twelve hours. 
Though generally surrounded by clouds of mist, Jalapa pos- 
sesses a superior situation, with grand mountain views, and the 
combined vegetation of the high and the low country. Possess- 
ing also a temperate climate, it produces, it is said, the prettiest 



190 



TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 



women and loveliest flowers in Mexico proper. Its architecture 
is not remarkable, if we except the old convent, said to have 
been built in the time of Cortes, and unless we consider the 
manner in which the houses — all of stone — are perched on 
the hillsides. The gardens of Jalapa are noted all over Mexico, 
because in them are gathered fruits and flowers of every zone. 
Coffee is the staple product, but bananas and plantains, as well 
as corn, fraternize with it, and serve to give a character to these 
gardens that impresses one strongly with the possibilities of this 
climate. 

In the forests, out of sight, on the eastern declivity of the 
cordilleras of Vera Cruz, flourishes that aromatic-fruited plant, 

the vanilla, — Vanilla 
planifolia. It is indige- 
nous to the humid for- 
ests, and is carefully 
sought out and gath- 
ered by the Indians 
of the tierra caliente. 
The plant requires lit- 
tle care, but shade and 
moisture are necessary 
to its existence. The 
Indians, who yet reside 
in their primitive vil- 
lages, are restricted in 
the harvest season by 
the alcalde, who appor- 
tions to each his share 
of the labor. The har- 
vest begins in March 
and April, and con- 
tinues two or three 
months. The pods are carefully dried in the sun, and packed 
for shipment with equal solicitude. 

Vanilla was assiduously cultivated by the Totonacs, who 
anciently dwelt in the coast region of Vera Cruz, and who 




VANILLA. 



VERA CRUZ AND JALAPA. 191 

supplied the article to Montezuma and the Aztec nobles. Ruins 
of the structures erected by these Totonacs lie thick throughout 
the vast forests, in a line between Jalapa and the coast, going 
northward. Some of them have names, such as Misantla, Ma- 
pilca, and Papantla. The first named lies within thirty miles of 
Jalapa ; but little is known of any of these groups, though the 
pyramid of Papantla was described eighty years ago. The 
base of this pyramid is an exact square, each side twenty-five 
metres in length, and its perpendicular height about twenty 
metres. It is composed of six successive stages, like the true 
teocallis of Mexico, and a great staircase of fifty-seven steps 
leads to the truncated summit. Hieroglyphics and strange fig- 
ures, such as serpents and alligators, are carved in relief on the 
faced stones of each story, while a multitude of square niches, 
366 in number, have given rise to the conjecture that they, in 
some occult sense, had connection with the ancient Toltec cal- 
endar ; twelve additional niches in the stair toward the east may 
have stood for the " useless " or intercalated days at the end of 
their cycle. 

To revert again to the charms of Jalapa ; it is not my own 
unsupported testimony that I would offer. All travellers who 
have recorded their impressions of this city concur in praising 
its scenery and its doncellas. Says the Mexican adage, "Las 
Jalapenas son mny kalagiienas," — " The women of Jalapa are 
very bewitching." And Mr. Ward (1827): "It is impossible 
that any words should convey an adequate idea of the country 
about Jalapa. It stands in the centre of some of the finest 
mountain scenery which any country can boast of." Humboldt 
was in love with it, and perhaps with the doncellas as well, for 
he had a very susceptible nature, this grand old man, — not old 
when he visited Mexico, but young and handsome. 

The only drawback to perpetual enjoyment here is the driz- 
zling rain, which the clouds from the Gulf, their burdens of 
moisture condensed by the cool mountain-tops, precipitate upon 
Jalapa. This drizzle is called the chipi-chipi. " Then," says the 
traveller Ruxton, " the sun is for days obscured, and the Jala- 
peno, muffled in his sarape, smokes his cigarro, and mutters, 



192 



TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 



' Ave Maria purisshna, que saiga el sol.' Liberally, ' Holy 
Mary, let the sun come out ! ' " Jalapa was formerly on the 
great highway between Vera Cruz and Mexico (the city), which, 
both below and beyond, was infested by the salteadores, or 







RUINS OF PAPANTLA. 



" gentlemen of the road." Of the past, however, are these 
tales, for the railway has superseded the diligence, and the poor 
highwayman must now labor with his hands. 

Xalapa was a town existing when the first Spaniards marched 
up these mountains, as is stated in their reports. Beyond it is 



VERA CRUZ AND JALAPA. 193 

the famous mountain of Perote, called by an Aztec name signi- 
fying casket, in Spanish cofre, from its rectangular shape, and 
near its base the town of Perote, where American prisoners were 
confined in 1847. Though we had looked anxiously for that 
plant from which the town derived its name, that tried friend 
of old-school physicians, jalap, — Ipomcea "Jalapa, — we had not 
been successful. Only the name remains, though the plant may 
still be hidden in some dark ravine, or in the deep forest, like 
the vanilla, for which the coast country below was formerly 
celebrated. 

My companions on the way up were the celebrated artist, 
Church, painter of " The Heart of the Andes," and his lovely 
wife, who were then on their return trip towards the United 
States, and who expressed themselves as delighted with the 
mountain scenery of the plateau. It was early morning as we 
left Jalapa on the downward trip, left it still crouching beneath 
the clouds that hovered over it, and scampered — or our mules 
did — down the hills. The mules were whipped into a gallop, 
and changed every three leagues, so that the journey to the 
coast was half accomplished ere the sun made it very hot. 

" The worse the road, the harder ply the whip," is the motto 
of all Mexican drivers ; so we sped through the pass of Cerro 
Gordo at an awful rate, taking sharp curves and spinning 
over its tortuous road at top speed. Beyond Rinconada, we 
descended the steep grades in a cloud of dust, racing with 
the second and third class cars, the heat growing more and 
more oppressive every mile; and in this manner we ran into 
the hot country again, and on the morrow took the train for 
the capital. 



13 



XL 

FROM COAST TO CAPITAL. 

1\ /TEXICO lies at the meeting-place of two zones, — the tem- 
-*-*-*- perate and the torrid ; and from its geographical posi- 
tion, combined with its varying altitudes, possesses a greater 
variety of soil, surface, and vegetation than any equal extent of 
contiguous territory in the world. Basking in the sunshine of 
the tropics, her head pillowed in the lap of the North, her feet 
resting at the gateway of the continents, her snowy bosom rising 
to the clouds, she rests serene in the majesty of her might. 
She guards vast treasures of gold and silver, emeralds and opals 
adorn her brow, while the hem of her royal robe, dipped in the 
seas of two hemispheres, is embroidered with pearls and the 
riches of ocean. 

Mother of Western civilization ! cradle of the American race ! 
a thousand years have been gathered into the sheaf of time since 
her first cities were built. When the Norsemen coasted our 
Northern shores, she had towns and villages, and white-walled 
temples and palaces. When the Pilgrims landed on Plymouth 
Rock, a hundred years had already passed since the soldiers of 
Cortes had battled with the hosts of Montezuma. Three centu- 
ries, and more, have rolled by since her conquest, and into the 
treasury of Spain, through this same city of the True Cross, she 
has poured golden streams and silver floods of royal revenue. 
Her ten millions of people occupy one million square miles 
of territory, having a length of 1,800, a breadth of 800, and a 
coast line of 5,500 miles. 

While yet upon her coast, let us glance at the country we 
have come to visit. Rising above the limit of her mountains 
clothed in snow, let us take a bird's-eye view of this great 
" central continent." 



FROM COAST TO CAPITAL. 



195 



The mountain chain that is 
so depressed at the Isthmus 
of Tehuantepec divides into 
two as it reaches Mexican ter- 
ritory, forming the eastern and 
western Cordilleras that run 
along either coast. These 
great mountain ranges, then, 
guard an immense central pla- 
teau, supporting some of the 
highest pinnacles on this con- 
tinent. 

Between the bases of these 
ranges and the coasts there is 
a broad expanse of compara- 
tively level land, known as 
the savanas, or llanos. This 
portion of the country is hot, 
and in the main unhealthy. 
The great plains are charac- 
terized by general aridity in 
the dry season, and are par- 
tially submerged in the season 
of rains. Covered with coarse 
grass, they are the resort of 
great herds of cattle, but their 
vegetation consists principally 
of stunted, prickly, and thorny 
trees. Like oases in this 
grassy desert are the spots 
fertilized by some stream or 
lake, where the trees and plants 
are of the tropics, and all the 
fruits of the hot zone are pro- 
duced in abundance : such as 
cacao and coco, vanilla and 
spices, sugar-cane, bananas, 



Pacific Ocean. 



Acapulco. 



Chilpancingo. 



Cuernavaca. 



Cruz del Marques, 



Rio Frio. 



Puebla. 



Jalapa. 



Vera Cruz. 



Gulf of Mexico. 



196 



TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 



oranges, and mangos. To impress upon one the character of 
the vegetation of the coast, a group of coco palms must be 
imagined, waving their long leaves wildly in the wind or shining 
like gold in the sun. Essentially a littoral product, the coco- 
palm is rarely found far inland, and the equally beautiful and 

tropical plant, the banana, leaves 
it behind, in the advance up the 
mountains, as the foot-hills are 
reached. 

These plains are not level, but 
rise from a low altitude above the 
sea to a height of two thousand 
feet and more ; then the hills 
set their feet upon them and 
vegetation radically changes. 
This coast section is called 
the tierra caliente, or hot 
country; but with our en- 
trance into the hills we pass 
gradually to a cooler and 




PALMS OF THE COAST. 



more salubrious climate, called by the natives tierra templada, 
the temperate region. Here, indeed, Nature manifests herself 
in her grandest productions ; vegetation begins to be profuse ; 
the huts of the natives, the great and towering trees, the rocks, 
the entire surface of the soil, are covered with gay flowers and 



FROM COAST TO CAPITAL. 1 97 

luxuriant vines : orchids, oleanders, roses, honeysuckles, and 
convolvuli " make glad these solitary places," and tall yuccas, 
palms, and tree-ferns make them picturesque. 

Rising higher and higher, the eye is bewildered by the vast 
number of vegetable forms that are massed upon the trees, the 
wild pines, air-plants, and hosts of ferns, bignonias with tints 
of sea-shells, orchids with spikes of blossoms, dragon plants, 
and an entire world of creepers and parasitic vines, unknown to 
any but the skilled botanist. Thus we pass through a zone 
unknown to us of the North, that has also forms not found in 
the low tropics. It is called the " temperate region" because of 
its delightful climate and equable temperature ; but it not only 
combines the vegetation of two zones, but also the heat and 
moisture of the lowlands with the cool breezes and salubrious 
atmosphere of the temperate country. 

Having traced the lapping of the two girdles in other places, 
in the lesser islands of the West Indies, and having noted and 
admired the blending of the two zones in this middle ground, I 
had long ago given this region (in imagination, before it passed 
under my eyes) the name of Tropic Border-land. The flowers 
here do not lose their scent, as some imagine ; the birds are 
tuneful, — though some would have us believe to the contrary, 
— and the annoying insects less abundant than below. Para- 
dise, if it can be located on this earth, will occupy a position in 
the tierra templada, in some belt half-way up a tropic mountain, 
whether in Mexico or in South America, in the West Indies or 
in the Himalayas, where altitude confers all the favors resulting 
from a change of country in other lands. There is no deadly 
disease here, as in the coast country ; at an elevation of three 
thousand feet above the sea there is little danger from the 
vomito, and, except for local causes, other fevers seldom molest 
the inhabitants. 

As far up as four thousand feet the sugar-cane, coffee, rice, to- 
bacco, and banana may be raised ; and all the fruits of the world, 
both the new and the old, may be produced here in greater 
or less perfection. Beyond this, vegetation is less luxuriant ; 
the grains of the Old World, as wheat and barley, flourish best 



ig8 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

at an altitude of six thousand feet; here the pines commence, 
though oaks were met with two thousand feet below, while corn, 
the great tasselled chieftain of the West, being on indigenous soil, 
has marched with us all the way from the coast, and climbed with 
us up the sides of the mountains. At about seven thousand feet, 
the great plains are reached that lie between the eastern and 
western Cordilleras, and cover an area of some fifteen hundred 
miles in length by five hundred in breadth. Here cactus and 
aloe, cypress and cedar, proclaim another zone, the tierra fria, 
or " cold country," where not a trace of tropical vegetation ex- 
ists except in the equivocal cacti and maguey. Shooting above 
the plateau, the great volcanoes, Orizaba, Ixtaccihuatl, and 
Popocatapetl, lift their hoary heads high into the clouds, and 
if we ascend their sides to their summits, we shall have traced 
vegetation to its last limit, — from the palms, bananas, and 
sugar-cane of the heated coast, through the oranges, apples, 
peaches of the temperate belt, the wheat, barley, aloes, the 
oaks, pines, and hemlocks of the tierra fria, to the last starry 
cryptogam that flecks the borders of the eternal snows ! 

In no country in the world can you pass so rapidly from zone 
to zone, — from the blazing shores of the heated tropics to the 
region of perpetual winter, from the land of the palm and vine 
to that of the pine and lichen, — for in twenty hours this can 
be accomplished, and the traveller may ascend a snow peak with 
the sands of the shore still upon his shoes. 

In going over the Mexican railroad, one witnesses a perfect 
exposition of the products of the entire country, for it cuts the 
backbone of the continent, and climbs from hot, unhealthy 
coast to frigid mountain-top. Fancying yourself again in Vera 
Cruz, and that you have seen the few objects of interest, — the 
plaza, the municipal palace, custom-house, convent, and library, 
— you are awaiting anxiously the train that leaves for the cap- 
ital. The heavy cars roll finally out of the station, across the 
line of ancient fortifications (now levelled), and over the broad 
llanos that border the coast. As we speed over these plains, 
we may, if the moon be shining, obtain a parting glimpse of 
the domed and turreted town, set in a framework of tropical 




IN TIERRA CALIENTE. 



FROM COAST TO CAPITAL. 201 

vegetation, and the tropic night manifests itself, not only in the 
brilliancy of its stars, but in the myriads of its fire-flies. These 
insects of the night may remind us of the story related by the 
Spanish chroniclers, of the army of Narvaez, which was put to 
flight by an apparition of these fire-flies, they mistaking them 
for the lights of an approaching enemy. 

The ascent commences almost at the very gates of Vera Cruz, 
and at the station of Tejeria, a place noted in the history of 
Mexico, nine and one half miles distant, we are one hundred 
feet above the sea. There are no villages on the plains, and 
few houses except the ranchos of the cattle-owners, and the 
hamlet of Purga, which reminds us emphatically of the drastic 
cathartic properties of the indigenous jalap. Passing through 
Soledad, a hamlet of a few hundred people, the first station of 
any importance is Paso del Macho, containing fifteen hundred 
inhabitants, and situated 1,560 feet above Vera Cruz. Three 
miles beyond this station we cross the bridge of San Alejo, 3 1 8 
feet in length; at Chiquihuite, another, 220 feet long; and at 
Atoyac roll over the famous bridge of that name, having a 
length of 330 feet, spanning the Atoyac River, which empties 
at the port of Vera Cruz, fifty-three miles distant. Like the 
plains, which are intersected by deep barrancas, at the bottom 
of which, in the rainy season, flow turbid rivers, these lower 
hills are cut up by numerous ravines, rich in all the charming 
vegetation of the tropics, but offering almost insuperable obsta- 
cles to railway construction. Beyond Atoyac the ascent grows 
steeper, the grades continually increasing, and the course of the 
railway necessarily becoming circuitous, in order to overcome it. 
Rank grow the wonderful plants on either side, tumultuous rush 
the rivers from mountains clothed in verdure, each mile adding, 
if possible, to the wealth of the vegetable kingdom concentrated 
here, until it reaches perfection in the valleys lying about Cor- 
dova, twenty-seven hundred feet above the sea and sixty-five 
miles from the Gulf. It is here that the traveller first allows 
himself to take a long, free breath, without fear of drawing in 
the germs of yellow fever or malarial disease. The scenery 
delights him, and he would gladly stop awhile in this region, 



202 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

but he has a through ticket for Mexico and cannot; and at 
the time of his departure from the country he forgets Cordova 
until he reaches it again in passing through, and then regrets, 
too late, that he has not given it a few days' time. 

The town of Cordova, being the central portion of the coffee 
region of the east coast, situated amidst scenery that may be 
taken as typical of this zone, should not be passed by without 
a brief description. It was founded in 1618, becoming at one 
time a very flourishing city, with numerous sugar haciendas, as 
well as numberless coffee estates ; but it has greatly declined 
in importance. The entire coffee product amounted, in 1881, 
to little more than 20,000 arrobas, of twenty-five pounds each, 
while the amount of tobacco is estimated at from 150,000 to 
200,000 arrobas. The town lies nearly a mile from the pleas- 
ant station on the Mexican railroad, with which it is connected 
by an excellent tramway, passing through gardens and coffee 
groves. The central plaza, though small, is an exquisite little 
garden of palms, flowers, banana plants, and orange and lime 
trees, kept in excellent order. It has a monument, in the 
centre of a large basin containing the water of the town, in 
memory of the patriots of Cordova who fought in the revolution 
against Spanish dominion ; it is intersected by smooth walks, 
and has elegant iron seats at convenient stations. A large church 
opposite, though evidently of ancient date, is being repaired and 
somewhat modernized. 

The broad open space about the plaza is used as a market, 
there being no other, and here the market men and women sit 
squatted on the stone pavement. Sunday is the great market 
day, for all the Indians come in from adjacent villages and take 
possession of the square. Many of them are pure Indians, and 
dressed in peculiar costumes, each tribe or village sporting a 
different color. They meet amicably, and generally get through 
the day very well ; but it is when going home at night, with 
their skins full of mescal, or poor rum, that trouble occurs, and 
rarely a Sunday passes without several deaths. 

With the reader's permission, I will anticipate by a few 
months my actual visit to Cordova, and bring in here, in the 




BRIDGE OF CHIQUIHUITE. 



FROM COAST TO CAPITAL. 205 

sequence of our line of travel, the results of my observations in 
the coffee district. The coffee region of Mexico is much more 
extensive than is generally supposed, extending from the coast 
into the hills, even so high up as five thousand feet above the 
sea. Though the plant grows well along the coast, (as witness 
Liberia, where it springs up almost at the water's edge,) it flour- 
ishes best at an altitude of from one thousand to three thousand 
feet. This is in sections that are well supplied with rains, for 
warmth and moisture, so necessary to all vegetation, are re- 
quired by the coffee in a greater degree than by other plants. 
From the fact that the elevated districts are more salubrious 
than the lower, and that the best coffee is produced at the 
highest altitudes, — within a certain limit, — we find the largest 
groves among the hills and mountains. 

Very fortunately, at the commencement of my investigations, 
I fell in with an extremely well-informed gentleman, Mr. Hugo 
Finck, who had resided here nearly twenty years, a naturalist of 
deep and inquiring mind, speaking four languages, thoroughly 
acquainted with the whole coast and mountain country of the 
Gulf, and an old " coffee raiser," besides. His plantation lies 
about two miles from town, reached by a road in a not exactly 
delightful condition. I might remark here that the roads of 
Mexico are, as a rule, in a horrible state. The government relies 
so much upon the railroads to connect all important places that 
the carriage roads and bridle paths are neglected. Take one of 
our country lanes, cut ditches across it, dig deep pits in it, de- 
molish a stone wall and cast into the centre of it, run a few 
streams through it, and slush the whole over so that one can 
hardly keep his footing on it, and you have a Mexican coun- 
try road in the rainy season. 

But when we reached the outskirts of the town, and the road 
lay between tall hedgerows of flowering trees and tangled vines, 
we found the air perfumed with spicy odors, and enlivened by 
the chirping of birds. After crossing a couple of streams, we 
finally reached the plantation, and walked between long rows of 
coffee plants. They varied in age from one year to ten, but all 
above two years were well laden with fruit. 



206 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

I have considered well all the various enterprises, agricultural 
and industrial, possible in Mexico, and have come to the con- 
clusion that, if one must come out here and labor, — if he feels 
a decided " call " to till the soil, — old Mother Earth will be 
about as generous to him in coffee culture as in anything. 
Whatever one embarks in, he must wait some years to see his 
money come back ; if he choose the raising of cattle, he must 
wait for them to grow, for at least five years, and run the risk 
meanwhile of their dying or being stolen ; and, besides, they 
can only increase in certain proportion ; no cow can bear more 
than one or two calves a year, and no calf will grow any faster 
than he pleases, unless you stuff him full of expensive meal and 
grain. With corn, wheat, and barley, you must have hundreds 
of acres of land, must prepare it carefully, and hoe and weed or 
dress it several times during the season ; and, after the crop is 
cut and stacked, your land is there again, barren and exposed 
as before, and you must go through the same process over 
again. 

With coffee, you plant your land once, and that suffices for 
several years. Looking at it from my point of view, — the lazy 
man's outlook, — I can see nothing so inviting as coffee culture, 
unless it be a fat "living" in an English country church. In 
the first place, you buy your land, of which there is a fair sup- 
ply yet to be had, at about ten dollars per acre. The soil here 
is mostly strong, clayey loam, with a heavy top deposit of vege- 
table mould, very rich and lasting. It is easily cleared, and, - 
if not on a steep hillside, where the perpetual rains wash the 
humus away, retains its fertility a long while. After clearing, 
the plants, from six months to a year old, are set out in rows 
eight or ten feet wide, and about six feet apart in the row. 
Bananas or plantains should be set out in sufficient number to 
entirely shade the young plants ; these are quick-growing, and 
produce great bunches of fruit the second year, so that a small 
income will be coming in from them before the coffee begins 
to bear. Corn and tobacco may be planted among the trees, 
if one is in a hurry to obtain returns from the land while his 
principal crop is growing; but it will be far better merely to 



FROM COAST TO CAPITAL. 207 

keep the weeds down, till the land thoroughly without planting, 
and do everything to enrich the soil instead of exhausting it. 

Coffee two years from the seed is frequently seen here, though 
the trees rarely bear much before reaching the age of three 
years, and are not in profitable bearing till four or five. But I 
have seen sturdy little trees, with their slender branches well 
bunched with fruit and flowers at between two and three years 
of age. Like the orange of Florida and the lime of the West 
Indies, the former of which will sometimes bear at two years 
from the bud, and the latter at two years from the seed, little 
reliance can be placed upon a crop at less than three or four. 
The coffee is in advance of them all, however, in point of time, 
for, while the orange hardly reaches maturity before its tenth 
year, coffee will repay its owner in its sixth or seventh. An 
advantage. in favor of coffee over orange culture is, that here 
there can be combined with it the raising of every other 
tropical fruit. Here the mango lifts its solid green head above 
the plantations, though giving a shade too dense to be desira- 
ble, as well as the avocado pear, and even the peach and 
walnut. 

In Mr. Finck's cafetal, or coffee grounds, we may see as great 
a variety of trees and smaller plants as is usually found in a 
jardin des plantes, for he is an accomplished botanist, and knows 
every plant in this region. He is especially devoted to orchids, 
and has collected here the rarest species, from the snow line of 
Orizaba to the hot lands of the coast, keeping them in great 
beds in the shade, and wired to the trees with densest vegetation. 
For a few years past he has been introducing the cinchona, 
and is the first one who has done it with success. From this 
tree he expects eventually to derive greater profit than from his 
coffee. The cinchona is not indigenous to Mexico ; I am moved 
to say this because of an article in a Western paper describing 
the forests of the lowlands as being full of it. In that article, 
detailing in glowing terms the resources of Mexico, I found 
several products of the country that no botanist has discovered 
there yet. 

It is a delightful zone that combines climate and soil so har- 



208 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

moniously that you may raise in it the fruits of any two, — of the 
tropic and temperate. It reminds me of the coffee region of the 
West Indies in vegetation, climate, scenery, and even in birds. 
A corner of Mr. Finck's large estate is bounded by a brook, 
which has hollowed a segment from a round hill, leaving a per- 
pendicular wall of earth adorned with ferns, with interesting 
carludovicas, antheriums, and tree ferns; the last waving their 
feathery foliage in the air with a grace inimitable. There are a 
score of nooks equally charming with this, which I visited in 
company with the learned botanist, but will not describe, because 
there is a young man waiting for us whose experience, though 
short, may prove of greater interest. 

For $3500 this young man (who, by the way, came from 
Illinois) has bought about fifty acres of beautiful land, more than 
half of it planted with trees, and in good condition. This is 
about the minimum, if one intends devoting himself to coffee 
alone, that can well support a family and prove profitable. 
Even then, this number of acres should be well cultivated, with 
very little waste land. One hundred acres would be better, in 
order that fifty or more might be in bearing all the time. With 
this young man I went out to look at his recent purchase, which 
lay about a mile from town, near enough to avail of all the con- 
veniences of transportation and markets, and far enough to avoid 
the depredations of boys and yet get a good taste of the typical 
Mexican road. As we entered, we found ourselves surrounded 
by trees four and five years old, about five feet high, every 
branch loaded with glossy green bunches. The coffee, as every 
one knows, is not a bush, but a tree, that will grow to a height of 
twenty feet if permitted, but is nipped in at about six feet from 
the ground, thus gaining strength for the branches and main 
stalk, and presenting a surface from which the coffee is easily 
picked. Though the tree is constantly flowering and developing 
fruit, the proper harvest season is from November to April, — a 
little prolonged if carried into the latter month. The green ber- 
ries turn bright red, are gathered, dried on level floors of stone 
or plaster in the sun, separated and hulled, and then stored. 
According to statistics prepared for the State Fair of Vera 



PROM COAST TO CAPITAL. 



209 



Cruz, held in Orizaba in the autumn, the export of coffee from 
the canton of Cordova for 1880 was 5,500,000 pounds; for 
1 88 1, from 7,000,000 to 7,500,000 pounds! The area in coffee 
trees is constantly being added to, and the trees themselves are 
growing rapidly, and I do not fear to predict for 1883 a crop 
yielding not far from 10,000,000 pounds. The trade is largely 
in the hands of New Orleans parties, who buy the berry at 
less than ten cents per pound. 

Much is being said regarding the superiority of the coffee 
from Michoacan, but Michoacan is a far country, a country of 

volcanoes and internal strife. 

Experience has proved that 

coffee grown in one section 

can be raised equally well in 

another, and the difference 



1: --. ..'"-. 




IN A CAFETAL. 



between the dry climate of Michoacan and this may be obtained 
by a change of altitude. Coffee introduced from Liberia into the 
West Indies flourished just as well as it did in Africa. The 
planters here are not insensible to the advantages sometimes 
resulting from a change of seed, and are experimenting with 
several varieties, chiefly with some from Colima. I must con- 
fess that I never tasted worse coffee than I got in Mexico ; and 
if it is the result of my taste having been depraved by chicory, 
then give me chicory. 

14 



2IO TRAVELS IN MEXICO 

I left my friend standing in his coffee grove, surrounded by 
trees high as his shoulder, far as the eye could reach. He was 
justly proud of his purchase, and the feeling of envy came as 
near having a lodgment in my breast as possible. Aside from 
building a house and superintending the setting out of new trees, 
he has little to do henceforward but to gather his crops and count 
the receipts. Five years is not a long time to wait, especially 
as small crops can be raised in the interval, which will more than 
pay for the labor. Five years is not long, when every year adds 
an appreciable height to the plants, and the second year brings 
spicy flowers, like bunches of arbutus, with fruit glossy as wax. 
The monotony of the seasons may be varied by studying out 
and planting the various vegetables that will grow at different 
times of the year. One with a taste for botany need never be at 
a loss, having a vast storehouse all around him in the mountains 
and valleys, and no winter to destroy such plants as he may 
collect. 

We stood upon the highest part of a coffee-crowned knoll, 
with hills and valleys all around us, and the mighty peak of 
snow-crowned Orizaba towering above the clouds behind us, 
and planned the house, and the avenue, and the observa- 
tory that should give at a glance the entire beautiful valley. 
This is the bright side of the picture, and I hope no other will 
be presented, either to my new friend, or to any who may follow 
him. 

The train from the coast reaches Cordova as the first rays of 
morning give the snow cone of Orizaba a soft rose tint. Here 
the people come out with coffee, fruit, and native decoctions, 
fondly hoping that the traveller will buy of them and break his 
fast. Five miles beyond the station, the train runs more slowly, 
as it is approaching one of the most dangerous passes on the 
road, and, turning sharply to the right, enters the weird and 
wonderful barranca of Metlac. Running along the brink of this 
tremendous ravine for a while, we suddenly dart to the left and 
cross the bridge which spans it, at a curve of three hundred and 
twenty-five feet radius, ninety feet above the foaming river below. 
Five tunnels are in sight on the opposite side before the bridge 



FROM COAST TO CAPITAL. 



213 



is crossed, dark holes that pierce the mountain buttresses, the 
first of which is taken at the end of the viaduct. Three minutes 
from the time we leave the right bank of the barranca we are 
running a parallel course, diving in and out of successive tun- 
nels, having plunged into an immense cul-de-sac, as it were, on 
one side, and found our way out on the other. At times there 
are curves on which we can see the train from end to end, and 
all the time we are continually ascending. 

From the last of the tunneis we emerge upon a great table- 
land, and look out over broad stretches of cultivable acres, 
peaceful plains dotted with cattle, billowy ranges, spurs and 
peaks, and, above all, the great volcano, smiling serenely upon 
us. How beautiful are these high plains ! Right in sight is the 
land of snow, before us and behind us the land of tropic heat. 
The valley into which the great ravine opens is a vast field of 
coffee, rice, sugar-cane, tobacco, and corn. The area between 
Cordova and Orizaba is, perhaps, the most fertile and desirable 
to live in, in Mexico. Here the products of three zones mingle ; 
corn and coffee interlace their leaves, peach trees lift their heads 
above fields of tasselled cane, and grapes and mangos grow 
together in blooming gardens. With a stable government and 
with thorough cultivation, what might not this territory attain to ! 
The scenery is magnificent ; elevated knolls along the road give 
desirable spots for building sites ; great sugar estates are yellow 
with cane, good as any raised in the West Indies. Nothing is 
wrong or misplaced except the inhabitants, who have disfigured 
the face of nature with their vile habitations. 

And these habitations, by the material of which they are 
built and their manner of construction, indicate of themselves 
the increase in altitude and consequent depression of the ther- 
mometer. In the tierra caliente they are constructed of bamboo 
and light poles, open alike to wind and sun, for a slight shelter 
suffices for the tropics. In the tierra templada the wood used is 
heavier, and the structure more durable, while the better classes, 
especially in the towns, are of mud or stone. On the uplands 
of the tierra fria the dwellings are of adobe, or sun-dried brick, 
and of stone. 



214 



TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 



The environs of Orizaba appear beyond, lovely so far as nature 
can make them, with gardens of coffee, lanes running beneath 
large trees, and red-roofed houses nestling beneath broad-leaved 
plantains. This valley, though situated four thousand feet 
above the sea, is yet within the limits of the tierra caliente. It is 
a trifle cooler than Cordova, less subject to fevers and to attacks 
from the vomito, and has inviting hotels, — inviting for Mexico, 
— streams, cascades, bathing-places, and good shops and mar- 
kets. The climate is hot and humid, and the mosquitoes alert 
and vigorous ; hence, the beneficial activity of the latter pre- 
vents the visitor from experiencing the enervating effect of the 
former. There are many churches here, all of them interesting, 




A NATIVE HUT. 



several factories and mills, and the great machine-shops of the 
Mexican road, where engines are repaired and built. 

The city of Orizaba, eighty-two miles from Vera Cruz, and 
containing about 13,000 inhabitants, is said to occupy the site 
of a village founded a long while ago, and conquered by Mon- 
tezuma in 1457. Its original Aztec name, says one writer, was 
Ahanializapan, or Joy of the Water, which is a slight misnomer, 
since the inhabitants not only do not take joy in the water here, 
but are indebted to it for much dysentery and fever. During 
the French intervention it was occupied by those interlopers 
from Europe, and was a favorite resort with Maximilian during 
his brief reign in Mexico. Mount Borrego, where one hundred 



FROM COAST TO CAPITAL. 21 5 

French zouaves are said to have routed five thousand men of 
the Mexican army, is a conspicuous object near the town. The 
station here is the best on the road ; it is half a mile distant 
from the town, and connected with it by road and tramway. 

Above Orizaba the rails are drawn over fertile fields and 
wooded hills, through a fine country, rapidly growing poorer, 
where they run straight away towards the hills, and then make a 
decided dash for the mountains. In half an hour from the small 
station of Encinal, we enter the " gloomy gorge known as El 
Infernillo, the Little Hell, passing over dizzy banks and bridges, 
above a stream which has worn a deep chasm in the trap rock. 
A black cross on a projecting point indicates death and danger, 
and reminds us of the fate that awaits him who slips from the 
track above. Far below, gazing downward from the dizzy bridge 
we are crossing, upheld by slender columns, we can see a little 
stream dashing into a black and dismal ravine, where it is lost, 
until it reappears on the plain we have left. Plunging into 
a tunnel, we emerge at the other end into scenery radically dif- 
ferent, for we have now reached the region of pines, more than 
five thousand feet above the sea. A little valley lies spread 
before us now, an emerald embosomed in the mountains, called 
La Joya, the Jewel, in the centre of which is the station of 
Maltrata. Just as the whistle sounds for this station, the vol- 
cano of Orizaba bursts upon the view again, its whole snow- 
white summit rising majestically above the hills. The train is 
met by hundreds of Indian girls and women, holding out baskets 
of fruit, such as peaches, pomegranates, oranges, pine-apples, 
avocado pears, and tamales, or meat smothered in corn paste, 
cakes, tortillas, and bottles of pulque ; everything, in fact, that 
the Mexican taste (limited) is supposed to crave. Peach trees 
line the track at the station, and all the houses have gardens 
about them, as this is a suburb, and the town extends farther 
into the valley. 

Beyond this the track literally climbs the mountain, approach- 
ing it by great curves. At La Bota, where the engine stops 
for water, and where they take on a supply of wood, — pine 
wood that gives out a resinous odor, — the down train can be 



2l6 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

seen creeping slowly on its course, held in check by the power- 
ful engine. All the way up the hills you can trace the road, its 
serpentine trail drawn in and out the valley and along the ridges, 
ever and anon doubling upon itself, but ever climbing. At last 
we reach another water-tank, perched at the crest of a ridge, 
after having ascended over a grade of nearly five per cent 
through rock cuts hung with ferns, severing the backs of the 
buttresses that come down from the mountains above, and 
through tunnels that pierce them one after another. Looking 
down upon the hills and dales clothed in pines and oaks, we 
might imagine ourselves in New Hampshire, but we are already 
higher than Mount Washington ! 

Here the view is of surpassing beauty. Far to the left the 
volcano rears its white peak above ranks of sombre pines, and 
right beneath is a variegated landscape, alternate groves, copses, 
fields, and garden spots, through which is traced the sinuous 
line of the iron road. Beyond the tank is a narrow iron bridge, 
ninety feet long, and spanning a chasm that ends only at the 
valley below. If any support should snap here, nothing could 
save us from being precipitated two thousand feet downward. 
At the bridge the fair vale of Maltrata again lies before us, 
though ten miles distant by the track, and nearly three thousand 
feet below. Glorious are the views of Maltrata obtained as the 
train rushes in and out the cuts. The valley is perfectly flat, 
divided into squares by hedges and walls, with every shade 
of green, with houses and trees most picturesquely grouped, 
waving with grain in places, and golden where the harvest is 
done. Exactly in its centre is a red-domed church, and a 
square with portals and fountain ; every inch is cultivated be- 
yond the town, where verdant valleys run up into the hills, 
the slopes of which are yellow with grain and brown with up- 
turned earth. Hill is piled upon hill, stretching away to the 
horizon till lost in purple haze. We are cutting the crests of 
a hundred ridges, crawling along the summits of mountains, 
now peering into dark chasms a thousand feet deep, contain- 
ing streams drawn fine as silver threads, now penetrating 
forests of pines, black and vast. 



FROM COAST TO CAPITAL. 



217 



Crossing the last terrible bridge, on a curve, as at Metlac, 
and diving through the last dark tunnel, we finally reach Boca 
del Monte, the " Mountain's Mouth," at an altitude of seven 
thousand nine hundred feet above the sea. In the last thirteen 
miles we have climbed over three thousand perpendicular feet ; 
a stream, that we saw in the valley below as a foaming river, 
is now so narrow that a boy could leap across it, for we are 
at its source. 

We are now fairly out upon the great upland plateau ; we 
have passed successively through tierras caliente and templada, 
and are now in tierra fria, the cold country. After dry and 
bushy hills, we pass over a plain swelling into knolls covered 
with open oak woods, alternating with green, flower- carpeted 
pastures. In the centre of an emerald plain is a blue pond, 
with sheep and cattle feeding on the slopes around it. A few 
miles farther, at a point indicating one hundred and eleven 
miles from Vera Cruz, and nearly eight thousand feet above the 
sea, is the station of Esperanza. A long stop is made here for 
the passengers to get breakfast, which is abundant and well 
cooked. Here, also, the great double-ended Fairlie engine, 
the steam giant that has drawn us over the tremendous grades 
below, is taken off and replaced by a lighter American one, 
as the plain now extends the whole distance of one hundred 
and fifty miles to the capital. 

Esperanza is the Spanish equivalent for Hope. The station 
bearing this name is situated at the beginning of a vast sandy 
plain, producing thin crops of grain ; and as there are no other 
buildings than those of the station, and nothing of interest 
nearer than the volcanic foot-hills of Orizaba, the unfortunate 
traveller who is compelled to stay here for a day or two, realizes 
why it was called Hope, — because he hopes to find a better 
place beyond, and is certain he can enter none drearier. The 
best view of the great volcano of Orizaba is here, — that snow 
mountain which has been dancing attendance upon us since 
long before we reached the shore, and playing hide and seek 
with us behind the hills, all along the line. Now he is un- 
masked, for he shoots up from the very plains we are on, 



2i8 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

in the morning cold and glittering, in the evening hidden 
by clouds. 

The peak of Orizaba, according to Humboldt, attains to a 
height of 17,378 feet. Though not so accessible as Popocata-" 
petl, which is four hundred feet higher, Orizaba has been several 
times ascended. The first ascent was by a party of American 
officers, in 1848; and the second, by a Frenchman, Alexander 
Doignon, in 1851, who found a staff with the date 1848 cut into 
it, and the tattered remains of a United States Hag. Till then 
it was regarded as wholly inaccessible, and it was not until the 
gallant Frenchman made a second attempt (which nearly cost 
him his life) that the wondering natives could credit him, and 
award the honor of the first achievement to the modest Ameri- 
cans. The starting point for the peak is from the little village of 
San Andres, near the base of the cone, some of the inhabitants 
of which obtain ice from the summit. 

The God of the Air, Quetzalcoatl, after shaking the dust 
of Cholula from his shoes, and having died on the coast of 
Goatzcoalcos, was brought to the peak of Orizaba, and his 
body consumed by fire. His spirit took its flight toward 
heaven in the shape of a peacock, and since that time the 
burning mountain has borne the name of Ciltlaltepetl, or Moun- 
tain of the Star. 

The next station of importance is San Marcos, one hundred 
and fifty miles from Vera Cruz, where the narrow-gauge railroad 
from the latter city to Puebla and Mexico, by the way of Jalapa, 
crosses the Ferrocarril Mexicana. We are now in Tlascala, that 
little state whose heroic people, at war with Montezuma at the 
time of the arrival of the Spaniards, tested their invincibility in 
a terrible battle. Being defeated, they made a treaty with the 
white strangers, subsequently saving them from annihilation. 
We shall meet the conquistador es again, as we visit Tlascala, 
Cholula, and Mexico ; they are only mentioned in this connec- 
tion because, somewhere on these plains, and probably in this 
vicinity, we cross their line of march. 

Across these sandy plains, environed by chalky hills above 
which rises the isolated peak of Malinche, sometimes may be 



FROM COAST TO CAPITAL. 



219 



seen, in the dry season, perpendicular columns of sand and dust 
dancing on the surface, like water-spouts over the sea. 

At the station of Huamantla, an adobe village with a large 
white church, one hundred miles from Mexico, as at every 
stopping-place on the line, groups of horsemen in leather jack- 
ets and trousers, and wide sombreros, are drawn up along the 
track. These are the " rural guards," who have a truly rural 
look indeed, and who, being better paid than the regular sol- 







PEAK AND CRATER OF ORIZABA. 



diers who accompany every train by the car-full, are supposed 
to be of greater service in case of an emergency. In fact, 
the regulars have been known to be perfectly oblivious of the 
existence of robbers, even when the latter were firing guns 
and pistols within a hundred feet of them, and depriving 
passengers of their entire possessions ! 

Apizaco is another adobe village, one hundred and seventy- 



220 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

six miles from the coast, where there is a restaurant, and here 
a branch line leaves the main line for the city of Puebla. At 
Soltepec, seventy miles from Mexico, we are at an elevation 
above the sea of 8,224 feet; but, beyond, the plain gradually 
declines to the Mexican valley. 

We have long been in the region made famous for the 
maguey {Agave Americana), and at the station of Apam, fifty- 
eight miles from Mexico, are in the centre of the "pulque coun- 
try." Fields of wheat and barley took the place of tobacco 
and sugar-cane many a mile back, but these in turn yield to 
that wonderful native of the Mexican plateau. Immense fields 
stretch away on every side, unbounded by walls, but crossed by 
a thousand rows of the maguey, and in the distance gleam the 
white walls of the haciendas, fort-like structures with pierced 
and battlemented walls, that pertain to domains from six to 
ten leagues in extent. Droves of horses and herds of cattle 
roam the pastures in the intervales, and blue lakes sparkle, in 
the rainy season, where in the dry months all is parched and 
brown. 

The only remaining station of historic importance is Otumba, 
and its position has been indicated long before we reach it ; for 
two miles away rise those gigantic pyramids of the Sun and 
Moon. Gliding down the fertile plains, past the shadowy pyra- 
mids, along the borders of the shallow lake, Tezcoco, under the 
brown hills of Guadalupe, we are at last fairly within the great 
valley of Anahuac, the original centre of Mexican civilization, 
and there before us lies the beautiful city, capital of Mexico, 
bathed perchance in the golden beams of the departing sun. 
And into this valley, the former theatre of strife between a 
multitude of peoples, towards which in years past the eyes of 
the world have been turned in amazement, we enter by the 
train, and roll into the suburbs of the city. 



XII. 



CITY OF MEXICO. 

EFT standing in the station, after all the passengers had 
-*- ' departed, no coach within hail, and with no one speaking 
my native tongue to advise me, I knew not which way, nor 
how, to go. Looking about for some straw to catch at, that 
might float me perchance into a comfortable hotel, I saw a 
group of people taking leave of some would-be passengers by 
the return train for the coast. Drawing near them, keeping 
one eye on my gun-cases and trunks, I soon ascertained that 
they spoke English, and were moreover Americans. Suddenly 
there came to my ears a familiar expression, — " O yes, I 'm right 
along in the procession ! " — and I said to myself, " My gracious ! 
there is Hooper." Now everybody in Mexico knows Hooper, — 
from his frequent visits, from his facility for making acquaint- 
ance, from his jolly good nature, and his entire willingness to 
impart information. In truth, I have known Hooper to convey 
to an unsuspicious stranger intelligence of such a character as 
made the hair of that individual bristle with horror; and then, 
again, I have known him to talk so hopefully (to ladies) about 
the beauty, the loveliness, and the perfect security in which life 
and property rejoiced in Mexico, that they would declare their 
determination to do the country on foot and unprotected. But 
then it depended altogether upon what kind of information 
you wanted. Hooper always gave you just what you desired ; 
you had only to tell him where you were going, and he would 
contrive so many and such varied delights for that place as to 
fairly ravish you with joy. If you wanted a gold mine in prox- 
imity to picturesque scenery, there you had it ; if you wanted 
to slay a brigand on the road, it was just infested with them, — 



222 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

not too many for comfort, but enough to furnish a spice ©f 
adventure and satisfy your appetite for blood ; but if you were 
at all timid, and abhorred the thought of bloodshed, why that 
road was just a walk-over, there was not a robber within one 
hundred miles. 

Well, in short, there was Hooper, just as lively as when I 
last left him on board ship, and with a host of friends down to 
see him off. The reception he gave me was most cordial, for 
Hooper is from Buncombe County, and he at once dragged 
me up and introduced me to his party of friends. In five min- 
utes, it was arranged that I was to occupy the room he had 
just vacated at the hotel; I was introduced and consigned to 
the landlady thereof, and as comfortably settled as if I had 
known them a century. The train rolled out, bearing the 
generous-hearted Hooper, and his friends took me in charge 
and led the way to the hotel. 

It is not always that one so easily effects an entrance into a 
strange city in a new country. The room assigned me was 
one after my own heart, a walled-off corner of a house-top, 
commanding a wide-spread view of stone-walls and roofs, and 
of the entire valley of Mexico. Moreover there was, right 
within a stone's throw, the grand cathedral, and the plaza that 
had been once adorned with the more ancient temple of the 
Aztecs. I was landed right in the centre of historic Mexico, in 
a position most favorable for studying and enjoying it, without 
previous care or wearisome house-hunting. Surely, it seems 
sometimes as though it were always best to drift with the stream, 
when once launched upon it. Gathering here my various " traps " 
about me, I intrenched myself in this stronghold, purposing to 
sally forth and attack the city leisurely, as Cortes did, putting 
behind me a portion at a time, till all should be conquered. 

My room, as I have said, was secluded, on the roof. There 
was no other here, and access to it was by a single stairway, 
through the kitchen and servants' quarters. A single door and 
window gave abundant light and air ; but there were also two 
small square holes, — one through the door and one through 
the thick stone wall. These were closed by means of sliding 



CITY OF MEXICO. 223 

shutters. Their use was a matter of doubt to me, and I asked 
a friend their meaning. Then he explained : they were loop- 
holes ; I could convert my room into a regular block-house and 
stand a siege. My friend told me why the room had been loop- 
holed. When Hooper was here, some thief came and stole a 
fine revolver, then he came again and took away the holster, 
and a few nights later carried off the cartridges. Hooper was 
very wroth at this, though a moment's reflection would have 
convinced him that no thief who thought anything of himself 
would care for a revolver without holster or cartridges. But 
Hooper got angry, though he could never get sight of the 
robber, and various articles disappeared from time to time. 

This was during a former visit of Hooper's to Mexico, two 
years ago. A lady was the next occupant of this room, — a 
woman of nerve and determination ; she had the walls loop- 
holed, had a bell-rope, telephone, etc. attached, and calmly 
awaited the robber. 

He came ; he shook the door gently, and tried to get it open ; 
but this lady was ready for him. She opened fire at once, jin- 
gled the bell, and shouted through the telephone, and then 
sallied out, intending to surround the robber and capture him, 
with the aid of the party that was to come up the stairs to her 
rescue. During all this time she was letting off her revolver in 
a rather aimless way, and so the rescuing party halted beneath 
the stairs and inquired what she wanted. By the time they 
found out, after prudently waiting till her stock of ammunition 
was exhausted, they also found that the robber had escaped. 

Information of such a character was calculated to increase 
my interest in the room, and to assure me of an acquaintance 
with a trait of Mexican character not at all desirable. 

From the peculiar manner of construction of the buildings 
of the city of Mexico, with solid walls and flat stone roofs, all 
connected, a person can walk from one end of a block to the 
other — barring such interruptions as that lady purposed to 
offer — without any trouble whatever. The houses of the city 
are built in squares, or blocks, called manzanas} 200 varas, or 

1 A manzana is a square measure of 100 x 100 yards. 



224 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

660 feet, in length. The Hispano-Moriscan style of architec- 
ture is the same throughout the country, and gives to every city 
and town a resemblance to every other, with wide paved streets 
crossing each other at right angles and terminating in a great 
square in the centre. The houses, massively built, of stone, are 
also all after the same pattern. From the street, through a 
great doorway, closed at night by a barred and bolted door 
studded with nails, you enter the patio, or lower court, flagged 
with stone and surrounded by the stables and servants' quarters. 
This door is rarely wide open for free ingress and egress, but 
is loosely chained, and strictly guarded by the portero, who 
occupies a little room on the ground floor. This court is 
open to the sky, and above it are usually two ranges of living 
and sleeping rooms, with corridors in front, ornamented with 
tasteful iron balustrades, gay with flowers and vines, and some- 
times cooled by the waters of a plashing fountain. Except in 
a house occupying a corner lot, only one wall opens upon 
the street, and the windows of this are well guarded with iron 
bars, and closely curtained ; so from the outside world the 
families are as strictly secluded as the inmates of a prison 
or convent. Air, light, and sunshine they obtain from above 
the court, and pass their days among themselves in neglige 
and careless freedom. Above the apartments just mentioned 
is the roof-top, — the azotea, — terraced, like the roof-tops 
of the Orient. Here the family gather at evening time to 
enjoy the cool breezes, the quiet, and the gleaming stars of 
night. 

Seated upon the azotea, with cool breezes playing about you, 
the hum of busy life in the plaza and streets coming up from 
below, and with soft moonlight flooding the sea of roofs on 
every side, — this is the time and place to bring up again the 
spectres of the dead and departed conquistador es. 

We left the Spaniards at Tlascala on their way to the city of 
their aspirations ; thence they marched upon Cholula, whence, 
after committing a massacre of its inhabitants, they climbed the 
mountains that alone separated them from the valley of Mexico, 
over a trail that yet exists, between the volcanoes of Popocatapetl 



Illliiiifil 



wJr 




CITY OF MEXICO. 227 

and Iztaccihuatl, and from the western slope of these twin moun- 
tains first beheld the stronghold of Montezuma. The sequel is 
of course well known to all, — that they descended to the plains 
below and marched towards the great lake surrounding the 
capital, where they were received with magnificence by Monte- 
zuma and his nobles; entered the city, where they remained 
several months ; treacherously made captive the great and gen- 
erous monarch, who was subsequently slain in an insurrection 
of his people ; and were at length driven with great slaughter 
from the valley. Their entry was on the 8th of November, 
1 5 19; their expulsion, in July of the next year. Near the 
pyramids of Otumba, or San Juan, they were overtaken by 
the enraged Indians, escaping by a miracle to Tlascala, whence, 
after months of recuperating, and with reinforcements, they 
returned to the investment of the city of Mexico, in December, 
1520, finally capturing it in August, 1521. 

The ancient capital disappeared, for the Spaniards only took 
it house by house, and stone by stone, tearing down temples 
and palaces and filling up the canals with the debris ; but many 
places remain that were identified with the conquest and with 
the Aztecs, and which are fully authenticated. In entering the 
city for the purpose of observation we naturally turn our foot- 
steps toward the plaza mayor, the great central square, for it 
was also the centre of the former city, and indicates the site of 
the Aztec teocalli, or temple of sacrifice. Recent excavations 
made in the summer of 1881 have brought to light the very 
corner stones of this sacred edifice, and have thus vindicated 
the statements of early historians. 

According to the best authorities, this building was a py- 
ramidal structure, truncate, built in successive stories, each of 
which was reached by a flight of steps only after passing 
around the entire pyramid. One hundred and fourteen steps 
led to the square platform at the summit, about one hundred 
and fifty feet above the ground. This was the temple of their 
war-god, Mexitili, or Huitzilopochtli, and their place of sacri- 
fice. This heathen temple was razed, and on its site, in 1530, 
was built a church, which was demolished in 1573 and the pres- 



228 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

ent cathedral commenced, which was finished in 1667, at a total 
expense little short of $2,000,000. It occupies the eastern side 
of the great plaza, is of the shape of a cross, 426 feet long, 
200 wide, and 175 feet high, with massive towers reaching an 
altitude of 200 feet. Joined to it is a sister church, the Sagrario, 
or church of the parish, the florid and almost grotesque facade 
of which forms a decided contrast with the grand and imposing 
front of the cathedral. Until very recently, these were enclosed 
by a line of chains hung between about one hundred stone 
posts, the two corner pillars opposite the plaza supporting a 
cross with a ghastly emblem of death at its base, — a skull 
skilfully carved from marble, and an entwined serpent. This 
enclosure, which was a favorite resort of the bird-sellers, Indians 
with light wares for sale, leperos, and beggars, has been con- 
verted into an attractive garden. Many a time have I seen 
groups of dirty men and women of the proletarians crouched 
at the bases of these pillars, — not in worship or adoration, but 
engaged in threading with their bony fingers one another's hair, 
in eager search for that hemipterous insect so rarely seen 
except on the filthiest of the human species. 

The interior of the grand cathedral is, even at the present 
day, after having been successively plundered, most magnifi- 
cent It contains five naves, six altars, and fourteen chapels, 
which contain the bones of some of the viceroys and departed 
great men of Mexico. The Glory of the Cupola, Virgin, and 
revered saints, were painted by celebrated artists. A balustrade 
surrounds the choir, of a metal so rich that an offer to replace 
it with one of equal weight in solid silver was refused. This 
weighs twenty-six tons, and came from China in the old days 
of Spanish dominion, when the richly freighted galleons of 
Spain sent their cargoes overland from Acapulco to Vera Cruz, 
on the way to the mother country. The high altar was formerly 
the richest in the world, and yet retains much of its original 
glory. It contained candlesticks of gold, so heavy that a single 
one was more than a man could lift, chalices, cruets, and 
pixes of gold encrusted with precious stones, censers, crosses, 
and statues of the same precious metal, studded with emeralds, 



CITY OF MEXICO. 231 

amethysts, rubies, and sapphires. The statue of the Assumption 
(now missing) was of gold, ornamented with diamonds, and is 
said to have cost $1,090,000. There was a golden lamp, valued 
at $70,000, which it cost at one time $1,000 to clean, but 
according to a French writer, — and the joke is his, — the liberal 
troops cleaned it out for nothing, and it has not been seen 
since. These treasures are merely enumerated as having once 
been here, for it is difficult to believe that they still occupy a 
place in the dazzling mass of gilding and ornament surround- 
ing altar and choir, in a country that has passed through such 
trial and revolution as has Mexico. But these and much more 
existed, and were accumulated when bishop, priest, and monk 
ruled the country with a rod of iron, and possessed two thirds 
the entire wealth of the nation. 

Enter at any time, and you may see some kneeling figure, it 
may be of a rich and beautiful Senora, with the purest of Cas- 
tilian blood in her veins, or a miserable Indian just in from 
the country, with a load of vegetables, or even a coop of 
struggling chickens, still at his back. During the crowded 
attendance on feast-days and at other times, rich and poor, 
cleanly and filthy ones, mingle indiscriminately, and then the 
leperos, while pretending to great devotion, find it easy to 
relieve the wealthier members of society of their purses and 
handkerchiefs. 

One day, when first in Mexico, Cortes ascended to the top of 
the teocalli, 1 and Montezuma, taking him by the hand, pointed 
out to him the various parts of the city. In like manner, let us 
ascend the cathedral tower and look over the selfsame valley, 
from nearly the same height and point of view occupied by the 
Spanish conqueror and the Aztec emperor. " This is a royal 
place," says Bishop Haven, '" to see this royal city. Never had 
town such grand environment. Athens has mountains and sea, 
but scanty plains ; Rome, plains, but no water, and low-browed 

hills ; Jerusalem, mountains, but no plains nor sea The 

city lies all about us, its limits being equidistant in every direc- 

1 " The teocalli was in ruins a few years after the siege of Tenochtitlan, which, 
like that of Troy, ended in the almost total destruction of the city." — Humboldt. 



232 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

tion. Its flat roofs extend for a mile, domed with spacious 
churches." 

Says a celebrated French traveller : " Mexico is a grand city, 
in the Spanish style, with an air more inspiring, more majestic, 
more metropolitan, than any city of Spain except Madrid, 
crowned by numerous towers, and surrounded by a vast plain 
bounded by mountains. Mexico reminds one somewhat of 
Rome. Its long streets, broad, straight, and regular, give it 
an appearance like Berlin. It has some resemblance to Naples 
and Turin, yet with a character of its own. It makes one think 
of various cities of Europe, while it differs from all of them. 
It recalls all, repeats none." 

" The second day," says Mr. Ward, England's former Min- 
ister to Mexico, " made converts of us all ; in the course of it we 
visited most of the central parts of the town, and, after seeing 
the great plaza, the cathedral, the palace, and the noble streets 
which communicate with them, we were forced to confess, 
not only that Humboldt's praises did not exceed the truth, 
but that amongst the various capitals of Europe there were 
few that could support with any advantage a comparison with 
Mexico." 

Elevated at this height above the plaza, of nearly one hun- 
dred and eighty feet, the din of the city reaches our ears, — the 
hum of myriad voices, the patter of thousands of feet, and the 
rattle of coach-wheels over the pavements. Yet it is a rather 
silent crowd that fills the square, composed in great part of idle 
vagabonds who have no employment, and hence are in no hurry, 
and create no bustle. Directly beneath us is the great square, 
with the smaller one, the zocalo, or pleasure garden, in its centre. 
This latter is a green spot in this desert of stone, its tall trees 
shading marble walks, statues, fountains, and flowers, beauti- 
fully disposed about a central kiosk used as a music stand. 
The flower market, occupying a small iron building of graceful 
architecture, is held here, and a small octangular structure is 
the despatching office of the street railways, which, radiating in 
every direction, reach every available and desirable suburb. All 
the streets of the city seem to meet in, and take their departure 




INTERIOR OF CATHEDRAL. 



CITY OF MEXICO. 235 

from, the plaza mayor, — some broad and some narrow, but all 
paved and straight, and lined with high buildings of stone. The 
structures themselves are built mainly of tetzontli, a porous 
amygdaloid of dark color obtained from ancient quarries near 
the city, which, as it unites firmly with mortar, is more in 
request than any other for the buildings of the capital. 

The cathedral occupying the northern side of the square, we 
have on our left, forming the entire eastern boundary of the 
plaza, the great national palace, over twenty-eight hundred feet 
long, and containing an infinite number of rooms. In a portion 
of this building — -which is said to occupy the site of the ancient 
palace of Montezuma, or rather of Axayacatl, his royal sire, 
one room of which held three thousand persons — is situated 
the meteorological observatory, conducted by eminent scientific 
men. It is likely to be of great use to the scientific world ; for, 
remember, we are here elevated some seven thousand feet nearer 
the heavens than in Greenwich or Washington ; the air is con- 
sequently clearer, the stars brighter, and the moon and planets 
larger, than there. Add to this the fact — which must have been 
already observed — that there are no chimneys here, no smoke, 
and little dust, and we can imagine the perfect transparency of 
the pure ether through which these meteorologists and their 
brothers, the astronomers of the School of Mines and Chapul- 
tepec, gaze upon the other worlds outside of ours. Several 
companies of soldiers are constantly quartered here, who are 
paraded in front of the palace every morning as the clock strikes 
eight. Though sentinels stand guard at every portal, free access 
may be had to all portions of the great building upon applica- 
tion, and the admirer of relics of defunct imperialism may, for a 
real, look upon the state coach of Maximilian, yet preserved as 
a useless curiosity. The palace is the official residence of the 
President of the nation, and contains the offices of himself and 
his ministers and military commanders, and also the treasure of 
the nation and its archives. 

In the botanical garden attached to the palace is a curious 
plant, called el arbol de las manitos, the tree of the little hands. 
It is the Cheirostemon plata?iifolium of the botanists, and the 



) 



236 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

Tzapalilqui-Xochitl of the ancient Aztecs, one of whose kings 
went to wai with another petty monarch to obtain possession of 
it. It bears a beautiful red flower, the centre of which is in the 
form of a hand, with the fingers a little bent inward. Only- 
three trees of the kind are said to exist in all Mexico, two in 
the botanical garden, and one (the mother plant) in the moun- 
tains of Toluca. 

Directly opposite the cathedral, at the southern side of the 
plaza, is the municipal palace, supported, like the buildings 
bounding the greater portion of the western, upon the pictu- 
resque portales, or arcades, — a feature in the architecture of the 
public buildings of this country, as we have seen in Yucatan. 
Here the tide of human life flows at the full ; every available 
corner is occupied by some huckster, beggar, or pedler, and 
all the native products of the land are displayed for sale out- 
side and in the adjacent shops. Everything manufactured in 
Mexico is before us here, from a sombrero, with a brim a yard 
wide, loaded with silver, and costing fifty dollars, to a sarape, or 
Mexican blanket, of gay colors, and equally expensive. 

Lifting our eyes from the scene of animation spread below, 
and letting them wander over the stone walls that surround us 
on every side, like a coral plain rent into chasms, we note an- 
other verdant square to the westward. This is the alameda, 
the forest garden of Mexico, which is older than the zocalo, and 
has larger trees, finer flowers, grander fountains, and more elab- 
orate walks and garden plots. Here the good citizen of Mexico 
resorts at least once a day for a walk, the nurse with her charge, 
and the omnipresent policeman, the student with his book, and 
the lawyer with his client. This most charming spot, where 
once apostates were punished with fire, — for heretics were 
burned here by the Inquisition, — is but the beginning of the 
city westward and southwestward, towards the hills that approach 
the valley from that direction. 

Letting our gaze wander on, we look beyond the brown plains 
and green fields, intersected by lines of trees, roads, and aque- 
ducts, and dotted with the white walls of scattered villages, — 
beyond all these, to the hills that enclose us on every side. It 



CITY OF MEXICO. 237 

is a view too grand for simple description, too vast, even, for an 
artist to grasp and depict on a single canvas ; and I hesitate to 
attempt more than separate portions of it at a time. 

We occupy the central portion of a valley in the Cordilleras 
of Anahuac, fifty-five miles in length by thirty in breadth, and 
enclosed by a wall of mountains two hundred miles in circum- 
ference. This rugged barrier circumscribes our view in every 
direction ; amethystine hills of lovely hue, without a break or 
change in color except far to the southeast, where the two 
great volcanoes raise their snow-covered peaks to heaven. Be- 
tween us and them is spread every variety of surface that 
ever rejoiced the eye of an admirer of nature, in the hills 
crested with groves, the plains and valleys gemmed with lucent 
lakes. The great Lake Tezcoco, which formerly surrounded 
the city, lies now at a distance of three miles from it, sleep- 
ing in the sunshine, with the haze of distance enwrapping its 
farther shore. This is the salt-water lake ; farther south are 
the fresh-water bodies of Xochimilco and Chalco. The hills 
nearest us are those at the base of which the church and 
chapel of Guadalupe are built on the north, and of Chapul- 
tepec, lying to the west. Both points are historic, the one in 
the comparatively modern days of the conquest, the other in its 
connection with ancient peoples and scenes of recent days. 1 

In looking over this vast valley, and the wide area of denuded 
meadows that surrounds the city, we cannot avoid the convic- 
tion that the early chronicles were truthful in their descriptions 
of Mexico as having been built upon an island. Various 
doubters have affected to disbelieve this fact, even though 
every proof is present that the surroundings could afford, aside 
from the statements of many writers. The Aztec chronicles 
state that they made their permanent stay on an island, or 
group of islands, northeast of Chapultepec, and the writings 
of the Spaniards who were eyewitnesses to the events attend- 
ing the destruction of the old city and the founding of the 
new positively assert that both were upon an island intersected 

1 See Frontispiece, for an accurate engraving of Anahuac, or the historic Valley 
of Mexico. 



238 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

by canals. 1 The circumstances attending the entry of the 
Spaniards are narrated at length by Bernal Diaz. After de- 
scending the mountains and passing through Amecameca and 
Chalco, they skirted Lake Tezcoco 2 by the base of the line of 
hills southeast of the city, and approached from the direction 
of Lake Chalco. After having been met by Montezuma in 
great state, with his nobles, they were conducted to the city. 
" We then set forward," says the old soldier, " on the road to 
Mexico, which was crowded with multitudes of the natives, and 
arrived at the causeway of Iztapalapa, which leads to the capi- 
tal. When we beheld the number of populous towns on the 
water and firm ground, and that broad causeway running 
straight and level to the city, we could compare it to nothing 
but the enchanted scenes we had read of in ' Amadis of Gaul,' 
from the great tower and temples, and other edifices of lime and 
stone which seem to rise out of the water." 

Humboldt says that the ancient city communicated with the 
continent by the three great dikes of Tepejacac (Guadalupe), 
Tlacopan (Tacuba), and Iztapalapa. Cortes mentions four 
dikes, because he reckoned, without doubt, the aqueduct (and 
causeway) which led to Chapultepec. To simplify the posi- 
tion, imagine a causeway reaching the city from the south- 
east, another leading out of it to the north, and another west, 
besides the aqueduct to Chapultepec (a little south of west), 
which may have been built upon another causeway. 

Upon the ruins of the Aztec capital, therefore, after the siege 
had ended, the Spaniards laid the foundations of the modern city, 
still on an island, connected with the main only by the dikes, 
but with many of its canals choked with the material of ruined 
buildings. This "Venice of the Western world," as many 
authors have styled this centre of civilization in Lake Tezcoco, 
lost thereby its water-ways, which served in place of streets, and 
not many years passed before it was found to be in danger of 

1 The curious reader will find many particulars c£ historic information, such as 
dates of arrival of the tribes which successively invaded the valley of Mexico, etc., 
in the author's " Young Folks' History of Mexico," the later edition of which is 
carefully indexed. 

2 Written Tezcoco, or Texcoco, and pronounced Tesh-c6-co. 




EL SAGRARIO. 



CITY OF MEXICO. 241 

inundation. It has passed through several floods, the severest 
of which was that of 1629, which great inundation lasted till 
1634; boats passed through the streets as of old, and, though 
the most holy image of the Virgin of Guadalupe was brought 
into the city for the purpose of drying up the waters, it was a long 
while before they subsided, and chiefly through the influence 
of earthquakes. 1 At the corner of the street of San Francisco 
and the Callejon delEspiritu Santo, — Alley of the Holy Ghost, — 
there is the golden head of a lion, grim and dumb, that marks 
the height, about six feet, reached by the waters in 1629. 



LAKE TEXCOCO 

RELATIVE LEVELS OF LAKES AND CITY. 

There was a physical cause for these periodical floods in the 
comparative levels of the city and the lakes that occupy a 
goodly portion of the valley of Tenochtitlan, or Mexico. In 
the Plaza de Armas you may find to-day a monument (that 
was only unveiled in the summer of 1881) to one of Mex- 
ico's great hydrographers, containing on its four sides the 
heights of the lakes of the valley, the stage of the water in 
Lake Tezcoco, and other information of a hydrographic nature. 
There are six of these lakes ; — Chalco and Xochimilco, the 
southernmost, whose levels are ten feet above that of Tezcoco, 
the largest and nearest, but six feet below the pavement of the 
city at ordinary stages of water ; San Christobal, a small lake 
north of Tezcoco, and Xaltocan and Zumpango, in the northern 
end of the valley, at an elevation of twenty-five feet above the 
city. In order to save the city, it was considered necessary to 
divert the waters of Lake Zumpango — which flowed into Tez- 
coco, a lake without an outlet, and were a perpetual menace to 
the capital — in another direction, through the mountain wall 

1 The city itself has been seven times inundated, in 1446, 1553, 1580, 1604, 1607, 
1617, 1629; and five times partially submerged, in 1620, 1630, 1748, 1819, and 1865. 

16 



242 



TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 



that enclosed the valley, into the River Montezuma, which emp- 
ties eventually into the Gulf of Mexico. A great tunnel was 
commenced, in 1607, with 1500 Indians, and completed within a 
year, its length being more than 6,600 metres (21,650 feet). The 
falling in of the tunnel was the cause of the great inundations 
that submerged the city, and attempts were made to convert 
it into a trench; but this latter undertaking was not finished 
until 1789, nearly two centuries after its commencement. 




TAJO DE NOCHISTONGO. 

The great trench is from 30 to 160 feet in depth, and in some 
places 300 feet broad, and is known as the Desague de Huehue- 
toca, or the Tajo (Cut) de Nochistongo. Instead of carrying 
away the waters of the lower lakes, the great canal only drained 
Zumpango and a river which was diverted into it, leaving Tez- 
coco and Chalco unaffected directly by the drainage. It, 
however, relieved the city from apprehension regarding the 
danger that would have resulted from a sudden overflow of the 
upper lake into Tezcoco ; and by taking away the main tribu- 



CITY OF MEXICO. 243 

tary of the latter, in conjunction with its great evaporation, its 
area has been greatly diminished, so that, instead of surround- 
ing the city as in former days, its nearest shore is three miles 
from it, measuring from the plaza. 

For three hundred years the sewers of the city have at- 
tempted to discharge into the lake ; and though the latter has 
gone on evaporating all this while, yet the flow of filth has 
never ceased, and the level of the lake still remains but six feet 
below that of the city. The sewers are constantly charged; 
beneath the pavement of the city of Mexico is the accumulated 
filth of near five hundred years ! As a consequence, despite the 
rarity of the atmosphere at this high altitude, malaria spreads 
itself upon the air, and fevers of a mild type prevail here. 

Numberless plans have been submitted to the government 
for draining the lake and relieving the city of its surcharge 
of corruption; some have been accepted, but none have been 
attempted, though a fund for the purpose was started years 
and years ago. A wealthy American company was the latest 
to bid for this contract, and even went so far as to obtain a 
liberal concession from Congress and the Executive. Through 
the city of Mexico, by this plan, sewers are to be constructed 
flushed by the waters from the lakes, which are carried to a 
common conduit, where the sewage is purified by deposition, 
the solid matter to be used for fertilization and the water carried 
away in the canal. The whole length of the canal would be 
about fifty miles, the expense about $7,000,000. 

Having now a period of peace and prosperity, with a friendly 
nation kindly building all her railroads necessary to develop 
internal commerce, Mexico will undoubtedly turn her attention 
to the purification of her capital, that it may become in future 
years the Mecca of pilgrims in search of health, as well as of 
those looking for magnificent scenery. 



XIII. 



A RAMBLE AROUND THE CITY. 

r I ^HIS city of nearly three hundred thousand inhabitants lies 
-*- in latitude 19 26' north of the equator, and at an elevation 
above the sea of seven thousand four hundred feet. Its situa- 
tion, within four degrees of the tropic of Cancer, would give it, 
so far as geographical position is concerned, a climate like that 
of Havana, without its sea breezes ; but the isothermal line is 
here deflected northward by the greater altitude. The tempera- 
ture ranges between 65 and 85 degrees, varying little with the 
seasons ; the mornings and nights are cool, while at midday it 
is always hot, and the difference between sunshine and shade is 
very great The climate is strictly temperate, and nowhere in 
the world do the periodical alternations of rain and drought 
occur with greater regularity. 

The so-called rainy season extends from June to November, 
and is the most delightful period of the year, especially at its 
commencement and towards its termination. The latter month, 
November, is cool and pleasant, and indicates that the season 
has arrived when visitors from other countries can enter Mexico 
without fear of encountering deadly disease, and with the pros- 
pect before them of a full winter of dry weather. It is in May 
or June that " muttered thunders announce the coming of the 
rains, and all nature looks expectantly for the approaching 
showers " ; the dry, brown hills take on a carpet of green in a 
single night; the beds of water-courses, for months without a 
drop of water in them, are in a few days the channels of furi- 
ous streams. The animals of the hills and plains rejoice at 
the recurrence of the period of rain, for their pastures then 
afford them an abundance of succulent herbage. The eye of 



A RAMBLE AROUND THE CITY. 



247 



man is delighted with verdure and the bloom of flowers, which 
clothe the valleys and brighten the gardens. At the close of 
this season the migratory birds arrive fr 7 om the north; great 
flocks of ducks and plover, which betake themselves to the lakes 
and marshes, where they afford an abundance of food for the 
Indians and much sport to the denizens of the city. 

Even long journeys are pleasantest in this season, especially 
in the northern portion of the republic, except for the occa- 
sional disadvantages of swollen streams and flooded roads. By 
timing the hours of travel so that a start is secured before day- 
light, and halting by the middle of the afternoon, the rains are 
avoided, as they invariably fall between noon and sunset, except 
at the beginning of the season. In a journey of above a thou- 
sand miles on horseback, through Southern Mexico, in the 
height of the rainy season, myself and companions got wet 
scarcely a dozen times, though in the saddle every day. In 
the city of Mexico, the encircling mountains, by their position 
and great height, precipitate many showers that do not fall in 
places outside the valley, as in Puebla, for instance, which has a 
much smaller rainfall. 

From the contiguity of the mountains to the valley, also, 
the rains here assume a violence that at times is tremendous, 
filling the streets of the city, and flooding the parks and plazas. 
In a single shower, lasting but an hour or so, I once saw the 
main street of Mexico filled knee-deep, and every one caught 
out in it had to hire a coach with which to reach his home. 
This was owing not only to sudden precipitation, but to the 
defective drainage of the city, which would not allow of the 
carrying away of the water in sufficient volume. Even the con- 
tents of the sewers were floated into the streets, and washed into 
the doorways of many stores and dwellings. On the occur- 
rence of such sudden rainfalls, the porters of the city transform 
themselves into beasts of burden, and carry ladies and gentle- 
men from one crossing to another, for. a few centavos, on their 
backs. They are rascals, many of them, who have been known 
to suspend an unlucky passenger above the water till he agreed 
to give a generous douceur for the privilege of landing, or keep 



248 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

him in this defenceless position till a companion has found and 
got away with his purse or watch. 

From its great elevation, combined with its geographical posi- 
tion, Mexico (the city) has a most perfect climate. Except for 
the local influences, previously mentioned, the atmosphere is 
dry and pure. Many people affect to suffer from the rarefaction 
of the air ; but it is believed that, if they had been transported 
here without knowing of the change of altitude, they would 
breathe as easily as at the coast. The air is so transparent that 
objects at a distance seem close at hand ; many writers have 
noticed the deceptive appearance of the hills, which can be seen 
at the termination of every street as though within an hour's 
walk, when in reality twenty miles away; and the two great 
volcanoes, though seemingly within cannon-shot, are all of fifty 
miles distant. 

The brisk electric condition of the air may account for the 
animation of the people, both native and foreign residents, who 
are always stirring, except at noon, and always cheerful. Des- 
pite the exhilarating atmosphere, to breathe which is a perfect 
delight, there is a universal cessation of active business at noon, 
(though morning is early devoted to work, and evening to rec- 
reation,) as the siesta imperatively asserts its claims, and every- 
body retires for an hour or two to couch or hammock. The 
longest day of the year being but thirteen hours, and the short- 
est eleven, this almost equal division of time between day and 
night greatly facilitates plans for business and amusement. 
Everything goes on with clock-work regularity, and the inhab- 
itants of the great city rise, eat, work, snooze, dance, and retire 
at stated hours. Honest men profit by this regularity to de- 
spatch their labors with their fellow-men when they are most 
accessible, and after dark those who are not honest know where 
and when to find victims to fleece or murder, without losing 
sleep, or shivering all night in the cold. 

With this brief digression, as explanatory of the sanitary con- 
dition of the city, let us continue our sight-seeing. Having 
started with the plaza mayor, it would perhaps be well to work 
outwards from it, and take the most distant places last. Diago- 



A RAMBLE AROUND THE CITY. 25 I 

nally opposite the zocalo in the centre of the Plaza, and facing 
the western wall of the cathedral, is the most beneficent institu- 
tion in Mexico, — in the world, — the Monte de Piedad. It is a 
pawn-shop on a gigantic scale, erected for the benefit of poor 
people and worthy members of the shabby-genteel class, whose 
ancestors were once wealthy, and left them money which they 
have squandered and property they fain would realize upon. It 
was founded by the famous Count of Regla, who gave three 
hundred thousand dollars for the purpose, in order that the 
poor and needy might obtain advances upon personal property 
at a low rate of interest. This is deposited as security, the sum 
advanced upon it being fixed by two valuators, as near as pos- 
sible to about three fourths its real value. Should the interest 
cease to be paid, the article is kept seven months longer, when a 
price is fixed, and it is exposed for sale ; five months later, if not 
sold, it is offered at public auction, the sum it brings in excess 
of the advance upon it and the added interest being placed to 
the credit of its owner, and subject to his order, or that of his 
heirs, for one hundred years, after which it reverts to the bank. 

The original capital of this charitable institution has more 
than doubled, and the amount of good that it has done in the 
century and more of its existence is incalculable. If Mexico 
had no other great charity than this, the fact of its existence, 
and that it has been allowed to carry on uninterrupted business 
through civil wars and changes of government, revolutions and 
counter revolutions, speaks volumes in favor of Mexican fore- 
sight and forbearance. The family gods of the country — rich 
garments, saddles, swords, gold ornaments, diamonds, pearls, 
and rubies — are collected here. Sometimes great bargains are 
secured at the sales and by private purchase, but not often, as 
the valuators are shrewd and careful men, who, it is said, have 
to make good any loss to the bank from undervaluation. But 
there are often deposited here gems that have an historic, added 
to their intrinsic value, — some say, many jewels that have 
flashed from the robes of royalty. The great building occupies 
the site of the palace of Cortes, built for him soon after the 
conquest ; and one cannot go amiss in paying it a visit. 



252 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

Notwithstanding the presence here of an establishment that 
will advance upon nearly everything a fair percentage of its 
value, the smaller dens of " My Uncle " flourish in abundance. 
They may be found on every street, and on some streets in 
every block, displaying a more heterogeneous assortment of 
stuff than the mind of man can conceive of. They will take 
anything offered them, and the majority are in league with 
thieves and pickpockets, who deposit their " takes " with them 
until pursuit is over, and they can be profitably disposed of. 
The police are cognizant of this, and keep up a rigid inspection 
of the pawn-shops, though the rascals generally evade responsi- 
bility whenever found with stolen goods. An American dealer 
in hardware told me that he lost more through the pawn-shops 
than in any other way ; for young men, of apparent respectability, 
have repeatedly bought revolvers, knives, etc. of him on credit, 
and had them in the pawn-shops before the day had closed. It 
is owing to such losses as these that dealers in American goods, 
hardware especially, charge for them four times the price asked 
in New York — in order that the Mexican fop may keep up 
appearances. 

Another large building, built with laudable intentions, but 
which has failed to completely realize the purposes of its found- 
ers, is the Mineria, or School of Mines. Mexico has better 
provided for her sons in respect to education than foreigners 
generally give her credit for, and this School of Mines is only 
one of many institutions throughout the republic for the train- 
ing of young men in practical engineering and mining. Though 
often praised as a building of stately architecture, which would 
be considered a grand structure in any country, the Mineria 
fails to convey that impression now ; and when told that it 
cost a million and a half of dollars, and that it is the work 
of the great architect and sculptor, Tolsa, we only wonder at 
the genius of a man who could conceal so much money in such 
an unimposing building. Here General Grant was entertained 
during his first visit -to Mexico, in 1880, when he was the guest 
of the people. 

There is a fine collection of the products of the mines here, 



A RAMBLE AROUND THE CITY. 253 

a good library, astronomical and meteorological apparatus, 
educated professors, trained assistants, and some of the most 
charming young men as students that it has been my fortune 
ever to meet. One of them, I remember, who bore the name 
of Cortes, having been detailed by his teacher to show me over 
the building, displayed such tact, courtesy, and intelligence that 
I shall never forget him. This treatment of a stranger is uni- 
versal, and one's heart warms at the recollection of attentions 
received from these gentlemen of the educational institution 
of Mexico. In this connection, I should not fail to mention 
the officers in charge of the meteorological observatory in the 
Palace. Educated in every detail of their profession, maintain- 
ing a leading position among the scientific men of the day, they 
are making the influence of their observations felt, especially in 
the United States. But, though busied with their duties night 
and day, I never found them so much engaged as not to have 
time to answer questions, or give the greatest consideration to 
my requests. 

The principal street of Mexico, on or near which are its 
largest hotels, its finest stores and restaurants, and some of 
its richest private dwellings, is the Calle de San Francisco, known 
also as Calle de los Plateros, or Street of the Silversmiths, and 
by various other names. The vexatious plan, formerly pursued, 
of giving every different block of a street a different name, is 
now being abandoned ; a more improved system is about to be 
adopted ; and in a few years, it is hoped, one may be able to 
find the number he is in search of in any particular street with- 
out spending hours about it, as now is necessary. In San Fran- 
cisco Street are some of the most richly-stocked stores in 
Mexico, where, despite the almost prohibitory duties on foreign 
goods, articles from every land on earth are accumulated. 
Half-way down this street is the grand Hotel Iturbide (pro- 
nounced Ee-tur-be-dee), once the palace of the first emperor 
after Mexico became independent. 

This hotel is patronized by such American visitors as worship 
all things smacking of royalty ; not because it is comfortable, not 
because it is cheerful even, — for it is scarcely less gloomy than 



254 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

a tomb, — but because it is "the thing" to be there. Even clerks 
on scant salary, engineers who have come out on ventures, 
artists, correspondents of newspapers, railway contractors, — all 
may be found within the precincts of Iturbide, that they may 
write home to their poor relations, " I have dwelt in the abode 
of an emperor." Grand and gloomy, with a fagade noteworthy 
for nothing except its long, protruding water-spouts, with an 
interior mainly attractive for its wide court, with dirty mozos or 
men-servants as chambermaids, bare floors, and gaunt bed- 
steads, there is nothing to attract one to Iturbide, except, per- 
haps, the drinks dispensed at its bar, which, like the climate, 
are delicious and vivifying. In describing one hotel, we de- 
scribe all, for they are all built and managed after the same 
plan. The cafes, which are conducted apart even if in the 
same building, are excellent. 

Illustrating the departure in a modified way from the archi- 
tecture of older Mexico, such houses as that of the millionaire 
Escandon is a fine specimen, though even this structure exem- 
plifies the manner in which the Mexican utilizes his dwelling- 
place, as the lower floors are occupied by stables and the offices 
of the Mexican railway. Near this abode of wealth is a pecu- 
liar, though effective, tile-covered block, which glistens in the 
sun like the porcelain domes of Vera Cruz. Historic and beau- 
tiful buildings abound near this centre, for only a stone's throw 
away is the great pile built long ago by the Franciscans, a 
conventual structure which they lost when their property was 
secularized, and which is now owned and used by two Christian 
religious corporations. The missionary work instituted here by 
the Rev. Dr. Butler is now successfully carried out by his son, 
and this Methodist rallying place for Protestants is in a flourish- 
ing condition. Halls and cloisters, once the resort of unctu- 
ous, holy monks, are now filled with active workers in the good 
cause, and with the material for the lively propagation of the 
Gospel. The most attractive portion is that facing the Calle 
de San Francisco, and owned by the Episcopal Church. 

A little way distant, a few streets to the south, is another 
convent, likewise to be put to a use more in accordance 




HOTEL ITURBIDE.. 



A RAMBLE AROUND THE CITY. 



257 



with the demands of the times. A magnificent building has 
just been repaired, and in a measure reconstructed, for the re- 
ception of one hundred thousand or more volumes, which are 
to constitute a national library, with such additions as the 
future may bring. The books are mostly the spoils from other 
convents and religious establishments, and though mainly of a 
character more suited to monks and recluses than to the student 
of to-day, yet there are many volumes of great rarity and value 
pertaining to the early history of this country. While upon 
this subject, I might remark that Mexico is yet full of old and 
rare religious books. In the book-stalls, which are daily erected 
around the great cathedral, and nightly taken away, I have often 
purchased odd works of forgotten, but once famous authors. 
The keepers of these temporary establishments are shrewd and 
well informed on the value of books, from a Mexican stand- 
point; but as they are mostly illiterate, and judge of the value 
of a book more by the eagerness of a customer than from the 
reports of trade sales or catalogues, they often sell for a mere 
song volumes worth their weight in silver. 1 

If this were only a dissertation on old books, I might go on 
describing treasures that would make a bibliophile's eyes water ; 
but as my object is merely to show my readers how they may 
see Mexico and its possessions to the best advantage, I repress 
this inclination to indulge in a favorite vanity. 

Of old houses there are many about which the antiquary 
and the artist might love to linger. Perhaps that one in which 
Humboldt dwelt while here, in the Calle San Augustin, is 
sought out most persistently. It is made conspicuous by an 
inscription over the door. Humboldt, as one writer has well 
remarked, is indeed an honorary citizen of the capital, and 
achieved more for Mexican independence with his pen than 
many others combined with the sword. Coming up from South 
America, he landed on Mexican soil in March, 1803, and re- 
mained a year in the country. Though he only visited such 
points as were of easy access from the capital, he nevertheless so 

1 A few old works, brought home by the author, are now in the Public Library 
of Boston. 

17 



258 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

improved and utilized the labors of others that the whole terri- 
tory bears the impress of his mighty mind. His work, " A Polit- 
ical Essay on the Kingdom of New Spain," though now chiefly 
useful as giving statistical information regarding the country 
previous to and at the period of his visit, must yet be taken, as 
a later writer truly says, as the point d'appui for the works of 
all travellers coming after him. Though perhaps he did not 
discover here much that was new, or throw any new light upon 
the history of the people,, he yet brought afresh to the notice 
of the world the writings of the old historians, revived an 
interest in archaeology, and set before all Europe the great 
natural resources of a country then inhabited by an oppressed 
people. His books have been a mine of wealth for subsequent 
historians, and have indeed served not only as a point d'appui, 
but as a very material portion of their productions. 

No building in the city, except the former residence of Hum- 
boldt, so forcibly brings to mind the great savant as the mint, — 
the Casa de Moneda. Though all the prominent points of the 
valley, such hills as Chapultepec, El Penon, and the Cerro of 
Guadalupe, are associated with his astronomical observations 
and trigonometrical surveys, yet this Casa de Moneda recalls 
that vast array of figures with which he demonstrated the actual 
coinage of Mexico from remote times up to the period of his 
visit. Not millions, but billions, are necessary in expressing in 
dollars the vast treasure that has passed through this mint, 
entering in crude ingots and departing in glittering pesos. The 
wealth of Montezuma and the Incas of Peru combined has been 
poured into this establishment since its foundation, since its 
first coinage in 1535 to the present day. The accumulated 
treasures of those great monarchs represented the slow ac- 
cretions of centuries, but the silver flood that is now flowing 
into the apartado represents a stream that promises to increase 
rather than diminish, — to augment as the rich veins are de- 
veloped and the old and abandoned mines pumped out and 
reworked. 

The coinage here, for the first three hundred years, was not 
far from $2,200,000,000! Though I cannot give exact statis- 






A RAMBLE AROUND THE CITY. 26 1 

tics of this mint of Mexico, as there are others established in 
the large cities of the republic, the sum total of all the mints, so 
far as is known, up to the year 1883 is over $3,000,000,000. 

The coinage only is shown here ; millions have been exported 
of the ore ; and an approximate of the whole amount will be 
attempted when we visit the mines. We may wander through 
these halls in a state of dazed uncertainty as to whether we are 
existing in the past or present, so firmly does this silver chain 
of dates and facts bind us, and lead us back to the first years of 
Spanish possession. Through centuries of change, and every 
variety of discord and warfare, the dies of the mint have gone 
on, stamping the likeness of successive rulers upon the product 
of the mines. Coins of the realm, of the empire, of the repub- 
lic, at last the steady stream shows only an even flow of coins 
of the republic, the emblem of Liberty upon every one. 
Every peso is stamped with its weight in drams and grains; 
and good weight it is, every dollar weighing just one ounce; 
for these good Mexicans hold that an honest dollar is alone the 
product of an honest man. 

Another relic of the past, savoring of hell and iniquity, 
though now devoted to use as a college of medicine, is the old 
Palace of the Inquisition, near the Plazuela of San Domingo. 
Long since abolished, the hideous face of the tribunal of the 
Inquisition peers at us only from the ashes of the dead and 
horrible past. Its last victim in Mexico, General Jose Morelos, 
was burned in November, 181 5. For two hundred and fifty 
years, since 1 571, it had exerted its baleful influence, but was 
crushed, with the last vestige of Spanish power, in 1821. The 
Plazuela is now occupied as a market in a small way, by poor 
people, and the odor of sizzling pork and tamales rises above 
the very place where heretics and apostates were once roasted 
and toasted to a crisp. 

It is difficult to wander far from your door without encoun- 
tering a hospital of some sort ; which fact speaks well for the 
people. Since the suppression of the monastic establishments 
and the banishment of the sweet sisters of charity, the gov- 
ernment has taken these hospitals under its charge By the 



262 



TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 



admission of both friend and foe it has discharged its duty 
faithfully, and the sick and afflicted of all classes have only 
to mention their particular complaints when they are at once 
assigned to their proper wards. 




CHURCH AND PLAZA OF SAN DOMINGO. 



Equally numerous are the theatres and dance-houses, the 
largest of the former being the National, — Teatro Nacional, — 
in which are brought out many things interesting to Ameri- 
can as well as Mexican. A defect in all Mexican theatres, 
and a very objectionable feature, is the custom of allowing the 
" prompter " to be not only seen, but heard. The perpetual 
buzz that precedes the actor's utterances is inexpressibly annoy- 



A RAMBLE AROUND THE CITY. 263 

ing. Yet the Mexicans submit to these impositions, the result 
of negligence on the part of the actors, and apparently are not 
inconvenienced by it at all. Cigarettes between the acts, and 
frequent exchanges of calls, are permissible. As the great city 
is now lighted by electric lights, and electric clocks connected 
with the astronomical observatory are displayed in prominent 
places, no one need fear to wander about its streets, even at 
night, except in remote and unillumined suburbs. 

Very near to the city, once situated, in fact, at the end of the 
shortest of those four causeways leading out of ancient Mexico, 
is Tacuba, two miles from the Alameda. In going to this inter- 
esting suburb, you take the car at the plaza, and pass through, 
among many others, the avenue of illustrious men, Los Hombres 
Ilustres, which is very wide and straight, and leads directly out 
into the country, though changing its name half a dozen times 
before it reaches open fields. Lying to its right, beyond the 
Alameda, is the abode of some of the men who have made, 
not only this street, but the whole republic, illustrious. They 
reside in a silent quarter called San Fernando, the panteon, or 
cemetery, of San Fernando. Most of the great men of Mexico 
are dead ; the greatest lie here, either sepulchred beneath costly 
marbles, or shelved in the columbaria, after the city fashion in 
this country. 

By far the richest sculpture is that above the remains of 
Juarez, the " Washington of Mexico," its Indian President, its 
wise ruler. There lie buried, also, several of the unfortunate 
generals and leaders of the people, who have been executed by 
their countrymen, either by the people because they leaned 
toward Spain, or by the Spaniards because they favored the 
people. They died for their country, all of them, and through 
their deaths, though they fell fighting on different sides, is their 
beloved land now made glorious. I wonder if there will be any 
reproaches in order when the last trump shall summon all these 
heroes to their final awards. Let us imagine them pleading 
their cases. 

" I," for instance, says Iturbide, " struck the decisive blow that 
freed my country from the yoke of Spain." 



264 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

" Yes," will reply some rank republican, " and set up an 
empire of your own." 

" But I first blew the trumpet-call of freedom ! " will claim 
the bold Hidalgo. 

And some member of the Church party will retort : " And in 
so doing sealed the doom of your Catholic mother." 

The irrepressible Santa Anna will doubtless attempt to prove 
that he was the saviour of Mexico ; but some of his numerous 
enemies will fling at him his supreme selfishness, and enumerate 
his defeats at the hands of the Americans. 

Guerrero and Comonfort, and a host of generals, who made 
their fortunes and lost their lives in the cause, fighting in the light 
that then shone on them, will not allow themselves to be ignored. 
Miramon and Mexia will point to their martyrdom in the cause 
of the Church and the Empire, while Maximilian will loftily, 
and perhaps justly, claim that the imperial government he rep- 
resented and gave his life for was the only one fitted for Mex- 
ico. Juarez will undoubtedly rest serenely confident that the 
peace and progress resulting from his administration is his title 
to a seat among the elect. But what will they all say when there 
appears the apparition of the great warrior who made their 
feeble exercise of power a possibility? Will they not shrink 
before his terrible features, and allow him a hearing without 
interruption? Cortes, the conqueror, the chosen of the Lord, 
the fighter for the faith, the murderer of Indians of royal blood, 
the founder of Spanish dominion in New Spain, — all must 
bow before him, unless the Aztecs, whom he destroyed, be al- 
lowed to have a voice in the matter. Montezuma and Gua- 
temotzin ! what burning brands ye could cast at the Spanish 
bigot ! Would he bow his head before your reproaches, or 
would he fling at you the long record of the victims of the sac- 
rifice murdered by you and your ancestors? The record of 
Cortes is not a true one, if he would not overwhelm you with 
evidence that he did the world a service in destroying you and 
your religion. 

Now, not all these heroes are buried here in San Fernando, 
but the few that are, having represented politics of such differ- 



A RAMBLE AROUND THE CITY. 265 

ent complexions, suggest the thoughts expressed above. Who 
is to judge which of these men were in the right? It is my 
opinion, that no more difficult problem will arise at the last 
judgment, than when these Mexican heroes shall put in their 
appearance for a final award. 

In the cities the cemeteries are well cared for ; marble busts 
and monuments mark the resting-places of famous dead, while 
tiers of sealed cells of masonry hold the remains of many more. 
But in the country it is different, and they fall into terrible ne- 
glect. In obedience to custom, that ordains that no grave can 
be held longer than for a certain term of years, the grave is 
opened, and room made for another occupant at the expiration 
of the time in the deed. Once dead, forgotten. After a few 
years their bones are dug up and thrown into a charnel pit in 
the corner of the cemetery, and their places occupied anew. 
A spectacle to move one to tears is this, of the last remains of 
man, of woman, and of youth treated as though but a por- 
tion of the meaner clay around them. I have seen grinning 
skulls, with eyeless sockets, and long tresses yet attached to 
them, which told that the spirit of gentle woman once resided 
there, cast out in the charnel pits, to become the sport of the 
elements and the scorn of beholders. These ghastly emblems 
of death are too often the ornaments of altars and niches in the 
churches, and they may be seen ranged in rows upon church- 
yard walls, and piled up at the bases of crosses and at the feet 
of shrines. But, little by little, Mexico is purging herself of 
these emblems of a moribund Church, and they will soon cease 
to offend the senses of the traveller in any part of the republic. 

When horse-cars were first introduced into the city of Mexico, 

Senor E , the manager of the lines, conceived the plan of 

purchasing all the hearses. Then he put funeral cars on the 
branch running to the cemetery, and the result was that every- 
body wishing to bury in consecrated ground was at his mercy. 
It soon, however, came to be the fashion to visit the grave- 
yard in the horse-cars, and all except the very poorest people 
might avail themselves of this privilege. A funeral procession 
of this sort passed me one day in the Plaza, the car draped 



266 



TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 



in white, the white coffin exposed to the glare of day and the 
gaze of the populace, the horses with nodding plumes driven 
by a spruce young man in conventional uniform, and the car 
containing the " mourners " gliding smoothly over the rails. 
The price for service is graduated to suit the taste and neces- 
sity of every one, being from above one hundred dollars down 
to as low as three, depending upon the number of horses, equip- 
ment of the hearse, and number and livery of attendants. 




A FUNERAL CAR. 



Of the many churches in the city, all equally attractive in 
their internal decoration, no one is more so from its exterior 
ornamentation than that of San Hypolito, not far from the 
Panteon. It was rebuilt in 1599, where, it is said, Cortes once 
had a hermitage, in commemoration of the expulsion of the 
Spaniards from the city. On the corner of the wall enclosing 
the church is a carving in stone, representing an eagle flying 
away with an Indian. Whether it is intended to convey the 



A RAMBLE AROUND THE CITY. 267 

idea of victory for the Indian or of defeat, of the rapacity of the 
conquerors or the translation of the Aztec to realms of super- 
nal bliss, has never been satisfactorily explained. Near this 
church, tradition has it, was the ditch which Alvarado leaped, 
on that night of general disaster, the Noche Triste. Commander 
of the rear guard, he was one of the few who escaped, and 
claimed to have owed his life to a leap across one of the canals, 
from which the bridge had been removed, in the causeway lead- 
ing to Tacuba. But Bernal Diaz, writing fifty years after the 
events of that night, says that the aperture was too wide and 
the sides too high for him to have leaped, let him have been 
ever so active. " As to that fatal bridge, which is called the 
* Leap of Alvarado,' I say that no soldier thought of looking 
whether he leaped much or little, for we had enough to do to 
save our own lives." 

We are on the way now to the " tree of Noche Triste" but 
there are so many objects of antiquity connected with the early 
history of the city that we cannot avoid frequent halts. The 
aqueduct of San Cosme, which ends in a sculptured fountain, is 
beyond the portion of the street known as Buena Vista, where 
there are some fine houses and gardens of wealthy citizens, 
and a little farther is the gate stormed by the Americans when 
they charged down the line of the aqueduct upon the city. 
Just where the giant water-way turns abruptly westward and 
stretches out towards Chapultepec is a spot no loyal American 
should fail to visit, — the cemetery set apart for the burial of 
foreigners. It is called the American cemetery, though more 
Germans are buried there than countrymen of ours, and adjoin- 
ing it is the English portion, both densely shaded, both neatly 
kept, and fragrant with the flowers planted here in profusion. 
At the west end, towards Chapultepec, is a monument, a gran- 
ite shaft with marble dies, on one of which is inscribed, " To the 
memory of the American soldiers who perished in this valley 
in 1847, whose bones, collected by their country's order, are 
here buried"; and on the other, " Contreras, Churubusco, 
Molino del Rey, Chapultepec, Mexico." It occurred to me 
that the Mexicans must be a forgiving people, that they allow 



268 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

such an humiliating reminder of defeat to stand on the border 
of their chief city. It would have been more generous in our 
people to have omitted the names of the victories, content to 
have a simple monument over our brave soldiers ; for we need 
no reminder of that buried past, now that our former foe is 
marching with us hand in hand to an assured future of prosper- 
ity. The cemetery lies just, clear of the suburbs, and where the 
level fertile fields commence. When I was there the freshest 
grave was that of Colonel Greenwood, who had been assassi- 
nated a few months previously, while surveying the line of the 
National Railroad : flowers were yet fresh upon it. 

About a mile from the stone bridge here is the tree we are 
looking for; it is a charming walk, — or it was that day in 
April when I first made my pilgrimage, — through fields green 
with alfalfa and bordered with trees and magueys, and before 
you are aware of fatigue, after turning a sharp bend in the road, 
the famous tree rises before you ; — a grand old cypress, that 
would attract our attention were it not surrounded with that 
halo of history. Its swelling trunk is said to be sixty feet 
around, though its jagged limbs, blasted by many a storm and 
worn with age, do not reach far above the little chapel that 
squats beside it. This chapel was erected in memory of that 
night of dreadful battle, when the Spaniards, driven like sheep 
before the hordes of Aztecs, perished as never before in the 
New World, trodden under foot, with their backs to the enemy. 
La noche triste they called that awful night of black despair, — 
"the sorrowful night," — and this aged cypress, that still stands 
in defiance of the assaults of time, el arbol de la noche triste, the 
tree of the sorrowful night. Here, in this village of Popotla, 
Cortes sat down upon a stone, and wept at the loss of his 
soldiers ; — beneath this tree, it is affirmed by some, — at all 
events, near this spot. Alluding to this circumstance, an ancient 
writer sings dolefully : — 

" In Tacuba was Cortes, with many a gallant chief; 
He thought upon his losses, and bowed his head with grief." 

The town of Tacuba is about a quarter of a mile farther, and 
not a great distance beyond is Atzcapotzalco, once the seat 



A RAMBLE AROUND THE CITY. 



269 



of a native kingdom, which fell with that of Montezuma. No 
ruins here, or remains of the sacred edifices that existed at the 

first coming of the Spaniards, 
save a low mound and scattered 
fragments of pottery. Both vil- 
lages are easily reached from the 
city, and both contain religious 
establishments, that of Atzca- 
potzalco being of 
great proportions. 
The church, or 
chapel, standing 
hard by the tree 
of noche triste, 
seems aban- 
doned to the In- 
dians, and is 
very old, — old 
enough to carry 
the thoughts 
back to that sad 
night of the first 
of July, 1520. The 
Aztecs relaxed their pur- 
suit here at Popotla, else not 
a Spaniard would have re- 
mained alive to tell the tale ; 
and, though harassed by the 
inhabitants of the towns about, 
the soldiers made good their es- 
cape, on the day following, to 
Otancalpolco, where they fortified 
themselves in a temple on a hill. Thence, after a brief night 
of rest, they marched under guidance of a single Indian towards 
Tlascala, their place of refuge; though not without another 
battle, in which they came near being annihilated. Upon the 
hill where they obtained their first relief, and a little time to 




TREE OF NOCHE TRISTE. 



270 



TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 



dress their wounds, there was erected some years later a church 
dedicated to Our Lady of Succor, — Nuestra Senora de los 
Remedios, — and this Virgin of the Remedios was a long 
time honored, and the people made pilgrimages to her shrine. 
She was a faithful saint, and did all she could for her wor- 
shippers ; but as she was the saint of the Spaniards, she was 
deposed in the revolution, and now the Virgin of Guadalupe 
reigns supreme. 




XIV. 

THE MEXICANS AT HOME. 

IT may have occurred to the reader, by this time, that the 
great city I have been describing, that cloud-dwelling cap- 
ital of Mexico, is lacking in population ; that its magnificent 
houses, hotels, and public edifices are tenantless. Yet such is 
not the case; for at least 280,000 people inhabit there. The 
reason that I have not before described them particularly is, 
that I wished to complete each topic as I took it up, to convey 
to the mind of the reader a distinct and lasting picture. 

Before turning our attention to the Mexicans, let me confess 
that I have many misgivings as to the result. I know that it is 
the custom to abuse the Mexicans, to affirm that no good thing 
can, ever did, or ever will, come out of their country. At the 
outset, let me state that I shall not here indulge in invective. 
As a traveller who has seen the Mexican in nearly all the 
existing phases of life, who (coming from a country radically 
different in its internal life) shared, perhaps, in the customary 
prejudices against these people, but who has since dispassion- 
ately studied them by their works, and through the works of 
others, I may be permitted to express the belief that my views 
are substantially correct. But lest I should seem prejudiced, 
one way or another, I shall mainly present, in the following 
pages, the opinions of other writers. 

Of the ten millions of people comprising the population of 
Mexico, at least one third are pure Indians, aborigines, indige- 
nous to the soil ; one sixth, Europeans and their Creole descend- 
ants ; and one half, Mestizos, or " mixed " people. According 
to the latest census (1883), the entire mass of the population 
is divided as follows: — 



272 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

Indians (raza indigena) 3,200,000 

Europeans and their descendants (Creoles) . . . 1,500,000 
Mestizos (raza mezdada) 5,800,000 

Total 10,500,000 

As to the peculiarities of this people, let me quote from Senor 
Don Garcia Cubas, a learned and observant native of Mexico. 
" The difference of dress, customs, and language," he says, 

" makes known the heterogeneousness of the population 

The habits and customs of the individuals who compose the 
Creole division conform in general to European civilization, 
particularly to the fashions of the French, with reminiscences 
of the Spanish. Their national language is Spanish ; French is 
much in vogue, whilst English, German, and Italian are receiv- 
ing increasing attention. The nearest descendants of the Span- 
iards, and those less mixed up with the native race in Mexico, 
belong by their complexion to the white race. The natural 
inclination of the mixed race to the habits and customs of 
their white brethren, as well as their estrangement from those 
of the natives, is the reason that many of them figure in the 
most important associations of the country, by their learning 
and intelligence, including in this large number the worthy 
members of the middle classes. From this powerful coalition, 
the force of an energetic development naturally results, which 
is inimical to the increase of the indigenous race (the Indian), 
not a few of the natives themselves contributing to this fatal 
consequence, who, by their enlightenment, have joined the body 
I have referred to, thereby founding new families with the habits 
and customs of the upper classes." 

From this we may infer the gradual extinction of the native 
Indian race, by gradual absorption into the more powerful 
mixed class ; yet, although they are slowly melting away in 
the north, in the south they are increasing in number, until 
the country south of the capital is to a great extent in their 
possession. 

The original stock of Mexico is the Indian, and, in pursuance 
of my plan, — to commence at the bottom and work upward, — 
we will inquire wherein the Mexican Indian is peculiar. 



THE MEXICANS AT HOME. 



273 



It need not be stated, for the information of American readers, 
that the Indian is of a brown or olive color; he has little or no 
beard, is rather under medium height, generally stout or corpu- 
lent, with muscular thighs, broad chest, 
and rather slender arms ; he is not over 
strong, but capable of great feats of en- 
durance, and is the entire reliance of the 
country for work in the mines and agri- 
cultural labor. The Indian, says the 
German traveller Sartorius, invariably 
retains his national dress, which is as sim- 
ple as the whole mode of life of these 
children of nature. The man wears short, 
wide drawers of coarse cotton or deer- 
skin, which seldom reach to the knee, and 
a sort of frock of coarse woollen cloth, 
fastened around the hips by a belt ; a 
straw hat and sandals complete his dress, 
which is devoid of all ornament. The 
females wrap themselves in a piece of 
woollen stuff that passes twice around 
the body, but is not closed with a seam ; 
this is girded round the waist by a broad 
colored band, and reaches to the unshod feet. The upper part 
of the body is covered with the huipile, a wide garment closed 
on all sides, reaching to the knee, and furnished with two open- 
ings for the arms. The hair, tied up with a bright ribbon, is 
either wound about the head in a thick roll, or hangs down in 
two plaits; large earrings and bead necklaces complete' the 
attire. The Indians distinguish their tribes by the color and 
fashion of their simple clothing. Wearing shoes is considered 
by them a departure from the good old fashion. 

His dwelling is in keeping with his simple person. In the 
warm, well-wooded regions he builds of wood, and of palm 
leaves and stalks; on the table lands, of unburnt brick (adobe), 
with a flat roof of stamped clay supported by beams. Inside 
the hut burns, day and night, the sacred fire of the domestic 




MEXICAN INDIAN. 
(From a Wax Figure.) 



274 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

hearth. Near it are the metate and metalpile, and an earthen pan, 
comale, for baking the maize bread. A few unglazed pots and 
dishes, a large water-pitcher, cups and dippers of gourd shell, 
comprise all the wealth, and a few carvings of saints (perhaps) 
the decorations. Mats of rushes or palm leaves answer for 
seats, table, and bed, and for their final rest in the grave. A 
mattock and hoe, nets perhaps and strings, the weaving appa- 
ratus of the woman (a few sticks), and the scanty provisions, 
hang on the wall and from the rafters. The Indian still uses 
the ancient temascale, or steam-bath, — a vaulted adobe oven, 
just high enough to sit upright in, where stones are heated 
and water poured on them to generate steam, — and practises 
simple remedies for his few diseases. His food is mostly vege- 
tables and fruits. He distils and brews his own liquors; on 
the coast, palm wine, and rum from sugar-cane; on the table 
lands, pulque from the agave, the fermented juice of the tuna, or 
prickly-pear, ckicha, chilote, etc. Maize is their support, and 
this is planted everywhere. 

After the conquest of Mexico by the Spaniards, the lands of 
the Indians became the property of the invaders ; but upon 
remote ranges of mountains, and in unhealthy coast regions, 
they retained land, because the conquerors feared to settle there 
in scattered bodies. A reactionary Spanish law granted to each 
Indian village a free possession extending 600 varas (1,800 
feet) from the church, in all directions, and in addition to this 
a square tract of 3,600 feet base line. This they still possess 
and can cultivate in common, though many prefer to work on 
plantations as day-laborers. The Indian is always in debt, and 
as he can never leave an estate until he has worked out his in- 
debtedness, he exists in. a state of peonage which is a mild 
sort of slavery. They carry on few branches of industry, but 
have great capacity for making ornaments, and for manufactur- 
ing " antiquities," which are bought by unsuspecting travellers 
and deposited in museums as genuine relics of the past. 

These people are trained porters and bearers of heavy bur- 
dens ; they will sometimes go eighty or a hundred miles to 
market, and often thirty or forty, with loads of provisions, 



THE MEXICANS AT HOME. 



275 



chickens, etc., that will bring only a dollar or two at the most. 
They have a peculiar dog-trot, which they keep up hour after 
hour and day after day; some of the Indian couriers, through 
their knowledge of paths and by-ways, have been known to 
accomplish the distance between certain points in less time than 
the mail-coach. Their ordinary load for a long journey is from 
seventy-five to a hundred pounds, but 
in the mines they climb up the primitive 
ladders — merely notched poles — bear- 
ing four hundred and even five hun- 
dred pounds of ore. 

The Indian is contented with the little 
he gets, and if a little remain it is al- 
most invariably spent at the pulquerias 
— the liquor-shops — before he departs 
for home. Although the Indians form 
villages and settlements by themselves, 
and in the city of Mexico dwell in a 
suburb apart from the whites, yet they 
freely mingle in the streets, " a people 
within a people," says the authority 
from which the preceding account has 
been mainly drawn; they remain apart, 
interfering in none of the affairs of the 
upper classes, and confining even their 
quarrels to their own class. Humble and obedient, their self- 
abasement is such that they accept and apply to themselves the 
reproach of the whites, a term that implies that they have no 
understanding. A white man is to them a gente de razon, — a 
man of intelligence, — while the Indian is called a gente sin 
razon, or a man without reason, — of no understanding. 

Further research into the Indian question may prove tedious 
to the general reader, and so we will leave the subject, merely 
pausing to state that the difference between the nomadic Indian 
of the Western prairies and the agricultural Indian of Mexico 
is hardly greater than that existing between the Aztec of the 
valley of Mexico, or the Yaqui of Sonora, and the native of 




INDIAN WOMAN. 
(From a Wax Figure.) 



276 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

Tehuantepec and Yucatan ; in a word, there are Indians and 
Indians. We need only note that the languages and dialects 
spoken by the various Indians of Mexico number one hun- 
dred and twenty, besides sixty more which are known to have 
become extinct. 

The race which was imposed upon the country at the coming 
of the Spaniards should be the next to attract our attention, 
since it is from the union of this with the aboriginal that the 
representative Mexican is produced. The Creoles (Criollos) 
are either Europeans or of European parentage. At the time 
of the revolution, 1810-1821, a term of contempt was used in 
speaking of the Spaniards ; they were called Gachupines. The 
Creoles were at one time the gentry, the aristocracy of Mexico, 
and even have aspirations in that direction now. In them, says 
Sartorius, we recognize the features of the Spaniard of the 
south, the conquerors and first colonists having been Andalu- 
sians. They are gentle and refined, yet vain and passionate, 
excellent hosts, delightful companions, addicted to gaming, and 
passionate admirers of the fair sex. The latter number among 
them many exceedingly lovely women, with dark complexions, 
large, languishing eyes, lithe and delicate forms, and dainty feet 
and hands. They are so closely immured in their prison-like 
dwellings that the foreigner has few opportunities for judging 
of their character ; but I will venture to affirm that it will com- 
pare favorably with that of their sisters of more northern climes. 
The daughters are closely watched by the mothers, who rarely 
trust them alone out of their sight. This may or may not 
be necessary ; materfavnilias thinks it is ; the wicked young 
man, against whom all these precautions are taken, thinks it 
cruel. 

"Domestic life is very different from that of the Germanic 
races. The life led by the ladies in their boudoirs savors some- 
thing of the Oriental ; they work beautifully with the needle, 
weave and embroider, play and sing; the intellectual element, 
however, is wanting, the understanding and the heart are un- 
cultivated, and sensuality therefore easily obtains the upper 
hand Taken altogether, the morals are more lax even 







THE BEAUTIFUL CREOLE. 
(From a Photograph.) 



THE MEXICANS AT HOME. 



279 



than in Spain, and yet less corrupt than in the large cities of 
Europe." This opinion is given by a writer who is commended 
in unqualified terms by Sefior Cubas, himself a Mexican, or I 
should have much hesitancy in accepting it. Personally speak- 
ing, I saw no indication of this laxity of morals among the better 
classes, although among certain Indian tribes women of easy 
virtue are the rule rather than the exception. 

In their dress, the Creoles differ in no important particu- 
lar from the French, the ladies especially conforming to the 
latest fashion plates from Paris, with this exception, that at 
morning mass, and in making unceremonious calls, they wear 
that graceful Spanish head-dress, the mantilla; and the gen- 
tlemen, when on horseback, or in the country, adopt the pic- 
turesque riding costume of the Mestizos. They have many 
lovable traits : their goodness of heart, their cheerful endurance 
of the petty ills of life, the respect and courtesy paid by chil- 
dren to their parents, and the frankness with which a stranger 
is received by the family, who all combine to please and enter- 
tain him, — these are but few of their amiable qualities. 

The deeper we get into this subject, the more delicate be- 
comes the nature of it. We now approach that third race (so 
called) of Mexico, the Mestizo, or mixed people. Again, al- 
though I have already expressed myself regarding the Mestizo 
character, I shall doubt my ability to deal with it satisfactorily, 
and shall present the opinions of one longer a resident of Mex- 
ico than myself. 

" The noblest of the Aztecs," says the author of Mexico and 
the Mexicans, " fell in battle with the Spaniards ; their property 
fell into the hands of the victors, who at the same time became 
possessed of the families of those who had fallen ; the rude 
warriors married the dusky daughters, who were rendered their 
equals by baptism. It was not considered a mesalliance to 
marry a noble Aztec girl. The sons of Montezuma, who were 
educated in Spain, received the title of Count. The Indian 
aristocracy adopted Christianity, and became amalgamated with 
the new population. It was not so with the poorer classes, who 
from the earliest periods had been subjected to the Indian aris- 



280 



TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 



tocracy, and at the conquest only changed masters. Neverthe 
less, countless mongrels were born, some in lawful matrimony 
some per nefas; and during three centuries the priest and the 
monk, the soldier and the young Creole, have continued to 
engraft the Caucasian stock on the wild trunk. Thus arose the 
numerous Mestizo population, which has 
inherited in part the brown hue of the . 
mother, but also the greater energy and 
more vigorous mind of the father. 

" The Mestizo, then, is properly the off- 
spring (not always properly begotten) of 
white father and Indian mother. He has 
an inborn originality, and is the represent- 
ative of national customs and peculiari- 
ties. He is a magnificent horseman ; one 
might take him for an Arab, as, lance in 
hand, he rushes past upon his light steed. 
In the warmer regions he wears (on Sun- 
days) a carefully plaited white shirt, wide 
trousers of white or colored drilling, fas- 
tened round the hips by a gay girdle, 
brown leather gaiters, and broad felt hat, 
with silver cord or fur band about it. The 
peasants, or rancheros, are usually distin- 
guished by the calzoneras, or open trousers 
of leather ornamented with silver, with white drawers show- 
ing through, a colored silk handkerchief about the neck, and 
the sarape, — the blanket-shawl with slit in the centre, resem- 
bling a herald's mantle. The women seldom wear stockings, 
though their dainty feet are often encased in satin slippers; 
they have loose, embroidered chemises, and a woollen or calico 
skirt, while the rebozo — a narrow but long shawl — is drawn 
over the head, and covers the otherwise exposed arms and 
breast" 

These are the elements that go to make up the Mexican peo- 
ple : Indians, Creoles, Mestizos. The last constitute the great 
majority of rancheros, or farmers, and arrieros, or mule-drivers ; 




MESTIZO. 
(By a Native Artist.) 



THE MEXICANS AT HOME. 28 1 

and in this latter capacity, often in the charge of great condnctas, 
or trains, of treasure-laden animals, have always proved honest 
and trustworthy messengers. 

The Mestizos are of pleasant countenance, when of good ex- 
traction, of full figure, with complexions which, though swarthy, 
are yet fresh, and sometimes rosy. As servants, the Mestizos 
are generally faithful, not over fond of ablution, but having 
high regard for their masters and mistresses. Always aspir- 
ing, the Mestizo is rapidly drawing away from the Indian pro- 
genitor, and assimilates with the white race ; it is said that 
Mestizos of the third generation cannot be distinguished from 
the Creoles themselves. As politicians, they have ever been 
successful, taking to law, also, as naturally as to the profession 
of arms. Not alone in point of numerical superiority, but as 
regards the real possession of power, through peculiar fitness for 
holding political office, the Mestizos are the dominant people of 
Mexico to-day. 

But there is a class of Mestizos which a truthful delineation 
of Mexican society compels me to mention, not so creditable 
to Mexico by half as the poorest and most degraded of the In- 
dians. I speak of the Lepero. The union of the worst of the 
Spanish with the worst of the Aztec race produced a progeny 
that exhibited all the vices, without a single virtue, of the parent 
stock. Time, instead of ameliorating, has hardened him, and the 
miserable lepero is the vilest specimen of humanity, the most 
degraded, most devoid of principle and honor, to be found on 
the American continent. And what is the lepero? Let Brantz 
Mayer, a close observer of the Mexicans for quite a length of 
time, answer this question : " Blacken a man in the sun, let his 
hair grow long and tangled, and become filled with vermin ; 
let him plod about the streets in all kinds of dirt for years, 
and never know the use of brush or towel, or water even, ex- 
cept in storms ; let him put on a pair of leather breeches at 
twenty, and wear them until forty without change or ablution ; 
and over all place a torn and blackened hat, and a tattered blan- 
ket begrimed with abominations; let him have wild eyes and 
shining teeth, features pinched by famine into sharpness, and 



282 



TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 



breasts bared and browned ; 
tion, and you have a recipe 



combine all these in your imagina- 
for a Mexican lepero." 

In fine, the lepero is the most 
worthless kind of proletarian, a 
beggar whom no one can escape 
from, and whom no one can in- 
timidate. Cortes mentions the 
swarms of beggars that existed 
in the Aztec capital in his time ; 
they are also spoken of by Hum- 
boldt; they were the terror and 
disgust of every viceroy, except 
Revillagigedo, who, in the latter 
part of the last century, success- 
fully dealt with them. In the 
revolutionary period they com- 
mitted unheard of atrocities, and 
upon the entry of the American 
troops into Mexico it was the 
leperos who, let loose from the 
jails, murdered and pillaged friend 
and foe alike. To-day we find 
them on every street and corner, 
curled up in the portals of the 
churches, sleeping at noon in the 
shade of every sanctuary. It is 
on feast days that the lepero par- 
ticularly shines, as witness this 
portraiture by the clever Sarto- 
rius : — 

" The lepero has actually spent 
a medio (six cents) in order to 
convert the crusts of dirt, which 
had stood in bold relief on his 

face, neck, and hands, into the natural brown Many of 

them are duly married, but the majority of them certainly not. 
They feel, however, the necessity of sharing their lot with a gen- 




INDIAN SERVANT. 



THE MEXICANS AT HOME. 283 

tier being, and surely this may be achieved, as there are plenty 
of damsels of this class, who, like the male lepero, are enam- 
ored of freedom. Without the blessing of the priest, they live 

perhaps happier than with it No popular festival, no 

church consecration, no marriage, takes place in the suburbs, 
without some of the leperos wounding or killing each other. No 
one interferes as the fight goes on, each with a knife in one 
hand and a cloak wrapped about the other, until one falls, and 

they all disperse, leaving him with his weeping mistress 

These proletarians consist almost exclusively of Mestizos, — the 
Indians, poor as they seem to be, are not regarded as such, — 
their number mainly recruited from illegitimate children." 

As to stealing, the lepero is a thief from his mother's arms. It 
is a fact, and I state it as confirmed to me by the chief of police, 
that nine out of every ten of the boys and men found in the 
streets of Mexico peddling papers or lottery tickets, or soliciting 
light employment generally, are thieves and pickpockets, and 
only approach you on the lookout for an opportunity to plunder 
you. So numerous are they that the police cannot distinguish 
the bad ones, as in the United States and in European cities, but 
class them all as capable of any crime. 

The pawnbrokers are the great receivers of stolen goods in 
this country; the so-called empenos are pawn-shops. Washer- 
women of the lepero class pawn the clothes of unsuspecting and 
trusting Americans when given them to be washed, and more 
than one engineer has had to visit some empeno and pay down 
the cash for garments that were already his to get them out 
of pawn. Either one by one, or all at a time, these garments 
are gathered into the maw of the Mexican " uncle." 

Along the line of the great Mexican Railroad, from Vera Cruz 
to the city of Mexico, nothing is left outside after dark, — nothing 
that the strength of two men can lift. Even the car-couplings 
are taken inside the station and locked up. This road once 
introduced air-brakes on their cars, but the workmen punched 
holes in the pipes and stole the tubing ; so they were taken off. 
On the National road, and doubtless on all others also, they stole 
the bolts that fastened the rails to the ties, until they were finally 



284 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

riveted on. One of a gang of workmen undertook to steal the 
cap off a cartridge of dynamite, with the result that he and 
several others went to their reward. 

Brantz Mayer relates a good story of an Englishman, who, 
while walking one of the principal streets of Mexico, felt his hat 
lifted gently from his head, and looked upward just in time to 
see it sailing aloft, suspended by a hook to a line which the 
sagacious lepero had let down from a lofty window. He also 
relates that some years ago three Mexicans stopped another, in 
broad daylight, and took away his cloak. " His cloak gone, 
he naturally imagined that the robbers had no further use for 
him, and attempted to depart. The vagabonds, however, told 
him to remain patiently where he was, and he would find the 
result more agreeable than he expected. In the course of fif- 
teen minutes their accomplice returned, and, politely bowing, 
handed the gentleman a pawnbroker 's ticket. ' We wanted thirty 
dollars, not the cloak,' said the villain ; ' here is a ticket, with 
which you may redeem it for that sum ; and as the cloak of such 
a caballero is unquestionably worth at least a hundred dollars, 
you may consider yourself as having made seventy by the trans- 
action. Vaya con Dios ! ' ." 

While I was in Mexico, the following incident was related to 
me, among others, illustrating the total depravity of the lepero. 
A good missionary had taken in charge a young man who 
showed evidences of conversion, and he was installed as janitor 
of the chapel. I suppose that (if missionaries ever do such 
things) this good man would have sworn by this janitor. While 
this converted Mexican was in charge an organ arrived ; a day 
was fixed for the exhibition of this instrument, and the heart of 
the missionary warmed with pleasure at the thought of feasting 
the ears of his friends. The evening arrived for the exhibition, 
the friends arrived, but when the curtain was lifted that con- 
cealed the instrument of music it was not there ! Neither was 
the janitor : he had gone and pawned the organ ! 

As the distinction between menm and tuum is altogether 
ignored by the leperos, so also life with them is not regarded 
as sacred ; they even look upon death by shooting as honorable, 



THE MEXICANS AT HOME. 



285 



and rather court it than otherwise. It perhaps comes of such 
perfect familiarity with fire-arms. Every lepero of distinction 
carries a revolver. Beg, borrow, or steal, a pistol he must and 
will have, and carry it in as exposed a place as possible. Should 
he arrive at the dignity of owning a horse, 
— though this is extremely improbable, — 
the lepero becomes a most consummate 
fop, not only in regard to his horse, but to 
his equipments. He may parade himself 
with an incrustation on his skin of seven 
years' dirt, and with a shirt that has sur- 
vived six months' continuous wear, but he 
will invariably carry a large nickel-plated 
revolver hanging at his side, and showing 
half its length of barrel below his jacket. 
To the butt of this revolver he will gen- 
erally have a cord and tassel, or a steel 
or nickel-plated chain attached. If he is 
on horseback, he will have jingling bits, 
clanking sabre, and a saddle shining with 
silver ornaments; but he will never be 
without carbine or revolver. The result 
of all this display of fire-arms is, that they 
are perfectly familiar with weapons in a 

general way, and think no more of pointing a pistol at a man 
than at a post. It has almost superseded the knife, though that 
peculiarly Spanish weapon is not infrequently used. 

It is a pleasure to me to be able to state that the present 
government has taken energetic measures looking towards a 
gradual reformation, if possible, of this worst portion of the 
criminal class, and the beneficial bullet has disposed of many 
of those who indulged in the pastime of the highwayman. 

Two honest men next claim our attention, and then I have 
done with the people, except in genre, as we may meet them 
casually on the street, or in our travels. These are the police- 
man and the water-carrier, — the aguador. You meet the former 
on every corner and in every street, in times of peace ; but I 




A LEPERO. 



286 



TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 



have noticed here the same phenomenon that I have also ob- 
served in Northern cities ; namely, that when you really need 



4li*S 1 PS 



^ *-:V^ 




SERENOS- 



one of these policemen, when there is any danger near, there 
is not one within a radius of half a mile. As a body, the 



THE MEXICANS AT HOME. 



287 



policemen are efficient and well drilled, courteous and affable. 
At night, the policeman is furnished with a lantern, which he 
places exactly in the centre of the street, while he sits in a door- 
way on the opposite corner, and snoozes at intervals in his sarape, 
or blanket-shawl. At certain periods he disturbs the nocturnal 
quiet with ear-piercing whistles ; in the smaller cities and pro- 
vincial towns, he cries the time of night, always ending up with 
" Tiempo sereno" or, " All serene." From this the mischievous 
Mexican youth have nicknamed him the Sereno, although his 
trim appearance now, clad in neat uniform, is in great contrast to 
the ancient watchmen, who first acquired, and bore with serenity, 
this appellation. 

But commend to me the honest aguador; who, with his 
burden of earthen jars, his leathern armor and quaint ways, is 
the most interesting individual of the Mexican street. All the 
water of the city being brought over aqueducts, it is only ob- 
tainable at the fountains, and the aguador thus becomes the 
most important personage of the household ; and as he is the 
bearer of gossip and news, he is always most welcome. 

Society in Mexico differs little from society in Spain, or in 
Cuba, or other Spanish-speaking country, so that to describe it 
would be an unnecessary task. There is one phase of it, how- 
ever, that has reached a development not surpassed either in the 
mother country or the Gem of the Antilles. I allude to court- 
ship, or perhaps it may be merely flirtation. From my secure 
post of observation on the azotea of my boarding-house, I often 
noticed a haggard and emaciated young man, pacing the side- 
walk in front of the next house. Seeing him day after day, I 
inquired the reason of his perambulations in that particular 
spot, and was informed that he was " playing the bear " ; or, in 
other words, paying his attentions to the fair sefiorita in the 
balcony above. Hacer el oso is the Mexican for this idiotic 
performance, or " to play the bear," — from the uneasy walking 
to and fro in one spot, like a bear in a cage. In his hand the 
imitator of the bear carries either a cigar or cigarette, with 
which he conducts a correspondence with his inamorata, she 
replying through the medium of her fan or handkerchief. I 



288 



TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 




EL AGUADOR. 

(From a Wax Figure.) 



was often told that some of these insensate creatures have been 
known to play the bear for at least seven years, and after all 
did not succeed in capturing the fair ones who had caused them 
to appear so ridiculous in the eyes of men. 

We have inspected the Mexicans in detail, let us now look at 
them as a whole, and possibly homogeneous race. Says an 
English author : " To give a brief charac- 
terization of the people of any country is 
always difficult. Especially is this a diffi- 
cult task when the Mexican population has 
to be described. The race is heterogene- 
ous, and what may be true of one part of 
the country may be utterly untrue regard- 
ing that of another section One 

traveller represents the Mexicans as a fine 
race, possessing all the virtues of the rest 
of mankind, and some peculiarly their 
own. Others will assure the reader, on 
their word of honor, that they have searched 
the vocabularies of the language in which they write, without 
being able to pick out a series of adjectives strong enough to 
express the utter turpitude of these degenerate descendants of a 
degenerate race." 

That this is strictly true, let me show by inserting some ex- 
tracts, — first, from the book of the English traveller, Ruxton : 
" The Mexicans, as a people, rank decidedly low in the scale 
of humanity. They are deficient in moral as well as physical 
organization ; they are treacherous, cunning, indolent and with- 
out energy, and cowardly by nature. Inherent, instinctive cow- 
ardice is rarely met with in any race of men, yet I affirm that in 
this instance it certainly exists, and is most conspicuous ; they 
possess at the same time that amount of brutish indifference 
to death which can be turned to good account in soldiers, and I 
believe that, if properly led, the Mexican should on this account 
behave tolerably well in the field, but no more than tolerably." 

A German traveller, Geiger, has a mild fling at the Mexi- 
can, as follows : " The Mexicans prefer the French to all other 



THE MEXICANS AT HOME. 



289 



nationalities; it is an old liking, which the late war has not 
destroyed, and hardly even diminished. The reasons for this are 
many. There exists a certain similarity of character between 
them; they have been reared in the same religion; and last, but 
not least, the gushing, ceremonious politeness of the French- 
man fascinates the Mexican, whose vanity is easily tickled by 
these demonstrative though insincere formalities. When ques- 
tioned as to their fondness for the French, Mexicans will tell 
you repeatedly that un Frances tiene education, which by no 
means implies that a Frenchman is educated, for in that respect 
they and Mexicans rank much alike, but that the Gaul knows 
how to embrace a la Mexicana, i. e. to fall into his friend's arms 
as if he were about to wrestle with him, and actively pat him 
on the back with the right hand of affectionate acquaintance." 

Now in these two extracts we see illustrated the previous 
statement regarding the heterogeneousness of the population, 
since, although both speak of the Mexican, each describes a 
radically different type ; the first evidently the Indian, the lat- 
ter the Creole or Mestizo of the upper ranks. One should be 
careful to discriminate between the various classes of people. 
I have had my attention called to the fact, that those who have 
known the Mexicans longest speak of them in the highest terms. 
Of such well-informed observers was Brantz Mayer, author of 
several books on Mexico. He says : " I think it exceedingly 
reasonable that the Mexicans should be shy of foreigners. They 
have been educated in the strict habits of the Catholic creed ; the 
customs of the country are different from others ; the strangers 
who visit them are engaged in the eager contests of commercial 
strife; and besides, being of different religion and language, 
they are chiefly from those Northern nations whose tastes and 
feelings have nothing kindred with the impulsive dispositions of 
the ardent South. In addition to the selfish spirit of gain that 
pervades the intercourse of these visitors, and gives them no 
character of permanency, or sympathy with the country, they 
have been accustomed to look down on the Mexicans with con- 
tempt for their obsolete habits, without reflecting that they are 
not justly censurable for traditional usages, which they had no 

19 



290 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

opportunity of improving by comparison with the progress of 
civilization among other nations. Yet, treating these people 
with the frankness of a person accustomed to find himself at 
home wherever he goes, avoiding the egotism of natural preju- 
dices, and meeting them in a spirit of benevolence, I have 
ever found them kind, gentle, hospitable, intelligent, benevolent, 
brave. I speak, however, of the juste milieu of society, wherein 

reside the virtue and intellect of a country In fact, 

regard them in any way, and they will be found to possess the 
elements of a fine people, who want but peace and the stim- 
ulus of foreign emulation to bring them forward among the 
nations of the earth with great distinction." 

This prediction, that the Mexican people needed but " peace 
and the stimulus of foreign emulation " to bring out their latent 
energies, is being realized. Mexico is taking a distinguished 
stand among nations, from which it will soon become impossible 
for her to recede. I myself, having broken bread and eaten salt 
with almost every class in Mexico, can truthfully subscribe to 
the sentiments expressed by the last-quoted author, and do so 
unhesitatingly. There is more truth in the Mexican's protesta- 
tions of good will than strangers are ready to credit ; he is often 
so effusive that they lay upon him the charge of insincerity. 
It may be that he is insincere, that he means utterly nothing 
when he repeats the ever- ready phrase, Mi casa estd muy; d su 
disposition, senor, — "My house, and all it contains, is very 
much at your disposal, sir " ; but he as often means it as not, 
as I have frequently found, when, far from town or hotel, 
night has overtaken me near some rancho or hacienda, and I 
have received the warmest of welcomes from its hospitable 
proprietor. 



XV. 



FEASTS AND FESTIVALS. — MEXICAN MISSIONS. 

HHRAS la cruz estd el Diablo, "The Devil lurks behind the 
cross," says the Spanish proverb. Nowhere is this more 
true than in Mexico. Indeed, his Satanic Majesty rarely takes 
the trouble to conceal himself, but openly thrusts his impudent 
face into every gathering of a religious nature that takes place. 
The religion of the present population of Mexico is extremely 
anomalous ; though nominally Catholics, the Indians are mainly 
pagans, while the Mestizos and the Creoles have little but 
the outward semblance. Time, as usual, wreaks its revenges. 
We know in what manner the religion of the Spaniards was 
imposed upon the conquered Indians, ■ — at the point of the 
sword, by the fire and rack. We know that they were " con- 
verted " to the new faith by the thousand at a time, and were 
reckoned good Christians as soon as baptized. We do not won- 
der, then, that after three hundred years of trial the native 
population should tacitly agree to the overthrow of priestly 
power and return to their idols, whom they have so long secretly 
cherished. Yet it seems strange to us that the successors of 
Juarez and Gomez Farrias, and those of their associates who 
are responsible for the downfall of the Church, should be al- 
lowed peacefully to rule as they do to-day. To be sure, the 
Church is exhausted ; its final struggle was at the time of Maxi- 
milian, and when he fell, and its treasures were appropriated to 
the use of the nation, it lost more than gold, — it lost its prestige. 
Yes, the prestige of the Church is departed, never perhaps to re- 
turn ; its officers no longer command the popular respect, and 
its sanctuaries are no longer sacred from the touch of impious 
hands. Yet the priests of to-day are no worse than before, so 



292 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

far as their morals and faith are concerned ; indeed, I believe 
they are more worthy of respect than formerly, — that their trials 
have purified them, and that they are capable, perhaps desirous, 
of wheeling to the right about, and joining the march of pro- 
gress, leaving behind them the dead and corrupt superstitions 
that wrecked them and their hopes. 

Stripped of their power by the enactments of 1857, the num- 
ber of churches reduced to just enough to provide for the actual 
needs of the people, forbidden themselves to wear their priestly 
robes in the street, or to fill the air with the perpetual clamor of 
clanging bells, the clergy of Mexico have held a very painful 
position. Although we recognize the justness and necessity of 
the laws of reform, yet we cannot but pity those men in holy 
office when the thunderbolt fell, who now suffer for the sins of 
their predecessors. 

But though religious processions through the street are pro- 
hibited in Mexico, the people do not fail to celebrate the feast 
days and the festivals. They respect not the Sabbath, nor the 
priest, but they have a sort of reverence for the saints. Of the 
three hundred and sixty-five saints in the Mexican calendar, 
not all, fortunately, are entitled to the honor of a holiday ; but 
many are, — enough seriously to interfere with business, and 
consume the earnings of the people. 

I witnessed several such festivities while in the country; but 
none seemed to me more grotesque and curious than that of 
Good Friday, when a final disposition was made of the arch- 
traitor Judas, against whom the Mexicans seem to have a 
special spite and wreak their vengeance upon him in a number 
of ingenious ways. All day long men are parading the streets 
with effigies of the betrayer hanging from poles, and hundreds 
are sold, especially to the children, who blow up these images 
with a gusto and delight only paralleled by our small boy on the 
Fourth of July. Each image, made of papier-mache, is filled with 
explosives, and has a fuse, like a fire-cracker, and is touched off 
by the juveniles amid great rejoicing. The thing culminates at 
evening, when immense Judases are hung up in prominent places, 
generally at the intersection of the streets, and exploded in the 



FEASTS AND FESTIVALS. 



293 



presence of delighted crowds. Then, also, the bells in the towers 
ring out their chorus of rejoicing, and a peculiar apparatus, also 
in the cathedral tower, makes a loud, crackling noise, which the 
crowds understand well to mean the breaking of the bones of the 
thieves on the cross. 




THE LITTLE GODS. 



Travellers of forty years ago tell us of the murdering of men 
guilty of a failure to bend the knee at the approach of the 
Host, when passing through the street attended by the priests ; 
but such a thing is no longer possible. I was surprised one day, 
on crossing the Plaza, at seeing everybody drop down upon 
their knees, and received some very black looks from some 



294 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

leperos because I did not do the same. As I turned, there 
swept by a coach drawn by four horses, containing the holy 
symbol, which the majority of the people yet respect, if they 
do not reverence. 

Now, not all the feasts and festivals of Mexico are of Romish 
origin. Upon the remains of Aztec idolatry, says a writer, now 
dead, have been engrafted the baser ceremonies of the Romish 
Church. Let us go back to the pre-Spanish days, when the em- 
pire of Montezuma was in the height of its prosperity. Eighteen 
months of twenty days each composed the ancient Mexican year, 
which commenced in February, and every month had its festival. 
That of February was in honor of Tlaloc, god of storms ; in March 
followed the cruel sacrifice to Xipe, god of the goldsmiths, and a 
second to Tlaloc, of children, who were drowned to insure abun- 
dant rains. In April, the flower-merchants offered garlands to 
Coatlicue, the Mexican Flora, and later to Centeotl, goddess of 
maize. On the fifth month fell the solemn festival in honor of 
Tezcatlipoca, the chief deity, when the bravest and handsomest 
of the prisoners in Aztec possession were sacrificed. In the 
same month occurred the feast of Huitzilopochtli, the Mexican 
war-god, during which another faultless victim was offered up. 
Tlaloc had a third and last festival in June, and the goddess of 
salt, Huixtocihuatl, claimed a female victim, when also the popu- 
lace went hunting in the mountains and upon the la"kes. In July 
a second feast to Centeotl, the Mexican Ceres, came to pass, when 
another female was sacrificed at the close of the day's rejoi- 
cings, just as the sun went down behind the purple hills. Then 
came the god of trade, and the god of fire, Xiuteuctli, and on 
the eleventh month the festival of Teteoinan, " mother of all the 
gods," when a female prisoner was beheaded, then flayed, and the 
bloody trophy presented to the god of war. In October came 
the great feast of Teotleco, " the coming of the gods," when the 
priests scattered maize meal in front of the sanctuary and watched 
for the sacred footprints of the principal deity. In November, 
the goddess of the chase, Mixcoatl, was honored, and then fol- 
lowed another great feast to the war-god and his brother, on the 
last of December. In the seventeenth month the god of hell, 



FEASTS AND FESTIVALS. 



295 



Mictlanteuctli, claimed a nocturnal sacrifice, and the god of the 
merchants a second feast. The horrid circle of sacrifices was 
completed on the 1st of February, when all the fires of the city- 
were extinguished, and kindled 
anew from the flame on the altar 
of the god of fire. On the last 
of February took place the most 
impressive of all the festivals, 
that of the Teoxihuitl, or " di- 
vine years," at the beginning 
of the Aztec cycle, which fell 
due only once in a century (fifty- 
two years) and was celebrated 
with great solemnity. 

However much this list of the 
feasts and festivals of the ancient 
Mexicans is indebted for its 
length to the imagination of the 
Spanish chroniclers, it will at 
least be evident that these peo- 
ple had quite sufficient for all 
intents and purposes before the 

imposition upon them of those pertaining to the Roman Cath- 
olic Church. The Spanish clergy labored many years to abol- 
ish the remembrance of them, and to substitute their own less 
barbarous fasts, feasts, and symbols. Although the Indian long 
clung to his cherished idols, he finally transferred his allegiance 
from the native to the foreign gods, and entered with great 
gusto into the celebrations and processions which the clergy 
got up for his edification. These at last came to be such an 
intolerable nuisance that government abolished them, so far as 
processions were concerned, and now, except in certain iso- 
lated districts, no religious pageant is allowed to parade the 
streets. 

Besides the feast-days pertaining to the Romish calendar, the 
following are the legalized holidays, or memorials, on which the 
national flag is displayed : — 




MOTHER OF THE GODS. 



296 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

Jan. 23, King of Spain; Feb. 5, anniversary of the Constitu- 
tion of '57; Feb. 22, Washington's birthday; March 14, King 
of Italy; March 21, birthday of Juarez; 22, of Emperor of 
Germany; April 1, opening of Congress; May 5 (Cinco de 
Mayo), victory at Puebla, over the French ; May 8, birthday of 
Hidalgo; May 15, taking of Queretaro ; 31, closing of Congress ; 
June 1, Italy; June 8, birthday of President of the Republic 
(Gonzalez); 21, taking of the city of Mexico, 1867; July 4, 
Independence of the United States ; 9, of the Argentine Repub- 
lic; 14, storming of the Bastile ; July 18, death of Juarez; 20, 
Independence of United States of Colombia; 28, of Peru; 
30, death of Hidalgo; Sept. 15, Independence of Guatemala; 
15 and 16, Independence of Mexico {Grito de Dolores); 16, 
opening of the Senate; Nov. 15, birthday of King of Belgium; 
Dec. 15, close of the Senate. 

But to return to our original question, What is the present 
religious status of the Mexican Indian to-day? Practically, 
says a writer who studied them long and thoroughly, " there 
is not much difference between the old heathenism and the 
new Christianity. We may put the dogmas out of the ques- 
tion. They hear them, and believe in them devoutly, and do 
not understand them in the least. They receive the Immacu- 
late Conception, as they have received many mysteries before 
it; and are not a little delighted to have a new occasion for 
decorating themselves and their churches with flowers, marching 
in processions, dancing, beating drums, and letting off rockets 
by daylight, as their manner is. The real essence of both reli- 
gions is the same to them ; they had gods to whom they built 
temples, and in whose honor they gave offerings, maintained 
priests, and danced, — much as they do now, — that their divin- 
ities might be favorable to them and give them good crops and 
success in their enterprises. This is pretty much what their 
Christianity consists of. As a moral influence, working upon 
the character of the people, it seems scarcely to have had the 
slightest effect, except in causing them to leave off human sac- 
rifices, which were probably not an original feature of their 
worship, but were introduced at a comparatively late time, and 



MEXICAN MISSIONS. 



297 



had already been abolished by one of the kings of the valley of 
Mexico." 

Without denying that the Catholic Church has the ability 
to institute a reform, and has within its folds upright and pure- 
minded men enough among its clergy to carry it out, yet up to 
the present time it has not chosen so to do. Upon the insti- 
tution of the Laws of Reform the people were released from 
the grasp of the ecclesiastical courts, and the vast majority, 
though nominally Catholics, were in danger of lapsing into infi- 
delity. It is not my wish to criticise or condemn, for I look 
upon the Church of Mexico of to-day as the victim, to a great 
extent, of the past, chained and shackled by the enactments 
and superstitious ignorance of its founders. But if that Church 
ever cherished the wish to elevate and regenerate itself and its 
worshippers, it neglected the occasion when, the French usurp- 
ers banished and internal rebellions quelled, peace finally settled 
down upon the distracted country. Then was the golden oppor- 
tunity, which, had it been embraced, would have carried Mexico 
farther onward towards its goal in the path of progress and 
enlightenment than electricity or steam. 

The three great civilizing forces of Mexico, the railroads, tele- 
graphs, and an active religion, are extraneous, — from without 
the borders of" the country. God and Liberty, Dios y Liber- 
tad, was the watchword of the republic in those times that 
tried the souls of Mexico's bravest sons ; but liberty to worship 
God, except after the manner prescribed by the mother Church, 
was not for a moment entertained. 

The first copies of the Scriptures, 1 it is said, entered Mexico 
with the invading American army, in 1846; but the example of 

1 The total number of the Scriptures circulated in Mexico up to December 31, 1882, 
was, as near as can be calculated, 252,898 copies. The British and Foreign Bible 
Society had several agents in Mexico and a central depository in the capital, until the 
year 1879, when the remaining stock was purchased by the American Bible Society, 
which has since carried on the work alone. At present, the central depository 
and office of the agency of the American Bible Society is situated in Calle de Var- 
gara, Mexico City, and the agent in charge is H. P. Hamilton. The open Bibles in 
the show windows are read by many people, and supplies are being constantly sent 
out to the colporteurs and to sub-agencies in all parts of the republic. 



298 



TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 



our heroes of that war, — their courage, high devotion to duty, 
the respect for the rights of, and their forbearance towards, the 
conquered people, — alone caused many Catholics to become 

sceptics. The firm stand of the 
patriot President, Juarez, encour- 
aged the friends of mission work 
in this country. In September, 
1862, we find the Rev. James 
Hickey, a Baptist minister, laboring 
in Matamoras as an independent 
missionary, and in the Novem- 
ber following in Monterey, the 
northern capital, preaching from 
house to house and distributing 
Bibles. On the 1st of March, 1863, 
he delivered the first Protestant dis- 
course to the public which was 
ever heard in Monterey, and in that 
year received as an assistant, who 
eventually became his successor, 
the Rev. Thomas M. Westrup, who 
was appointed as missionary by the American Baptist Home 
Mission Society of New York. 

At present there are fifteen Protestant missions in Mexico, 
representing twelve Christian bodies. These entered the field in 
the following order: Baptists (1863), Church of Jesus (1869), 
Quakers (1871), Presbyterians (1872), Methodist Episcopal 
Church South (Border Mission 1872, Central Mission 1873), 
English Independent Mission (1872), Methodist Episcopal 
(1873), Southern Presbyterians (1874), Associate Reformed 
Presbyterians (1878), Congregational (1880), Independents 
(1882), and Southern Baptists (1882). 

By way of explanation, it should be observed here, that Miss 
Rankin, a noble Christian woman, who had been laboring at 
Brownsville since 1855, crossed the Rio Grande about a year 
ahead of the Baptists. She at once began the establishment of 
Christian schools, and soon after, by the assistance of her own 




A VENDER OF HOLY RELICS. 



MEXICAN MISSIONS. 299 

trained workers, she established several congregations in the 
vicinity of Monterey. She was in fact like a bishop among her 
people, doing a thoroughly good work. Later, her mission was 
passed over to the American Board of Commissioners for For- 
eign Missions, who, in turn, resigned that part of their work to 
the Presbyterians about 1875. 

After a lengthy correspondence with parties now in the field, 
we find that the Baptists were the first to enter Mexico in a 
formal way. But we must not fail clearly to state that a most 
valuable work of preparation was done by the American Bible 
and Tract Societies, as early as 1847 and 1848. These worthy 
bodies sent colporteurs in the wake of the American army, 
who went everywhere " sowing the seed " which Christian 
churches are now gathering. 

Between the years 1867 and 1870, several of the Catholic 
clergy seceded, and in 1871 the Rev. H. C. Riley, a brave and 
independent Protestant Episcopalian, furnished with funds by 
the American and Foreign Christian Union, and with means of 
his own, obtained a foothold in Mexico City. 

Then, in 1872, the Presbyterians sent missionaries to Zaca- 
tecas, and the Congregationalists but little later followed. Their 
preacher in Ahualulco, State of Jalisco, the Rev. J. L. Stephens, 
was brutally murdered by a mob, March 2, 1874, and was thus 
the first martyr to the cause in Mexico. 

The Methodists, through the labors and visits of Bishop 
Haven, Dr. Butler, and others, early secured, in 1873, a portion 
of the old and vast convent of San Francisco, and firmly estab- 
lished themselves in the city of Mexico, whence their missions 
have spread like a prairie fire, and they are probably the most 
numerous body of Protestants in Mexico. Under the present 
energetic guidance of the Rev. J. W. Butler, a large-hearted, 
earnest Christian, (to whom I am indebted for these hitherto 
unpublished statistics,) their labors have prospered exceedingly. 
Sunday and day schools have been established ; a printing-press 
is in active operation, and an illustrated paper, the Abogado 
Cristiano, has been put in circulation, as well as an annual 
(Anuario), and numberless tracts, in the Spanish language. 



3QO 



TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 



The Methodist Church South has also an able director in 
the person of the Rev. William Patterson, who has likewise 
occupied several valuable fields for Christian effort. The sta- 
tistics of the Presbyterian missions have of late been carefully- 
compiled; their force in the field consists of eight in Mexico 




MISSION MAP OF MEXICO. — 1883. 



City with ten native helpers, ten in Monterey, five in Zacatecas, 
one native preacher in San Luis Potosi, and two in Jerez; 
total membership of all its churches, up to 1883, 7,100. 

The Methodist Church is now operating from the following 
centres : Mexico City, Orizaba, Puebla, Pachuca, Miraflores, 
Queretaro, Guanajuato, and Leon. There are 17 foreign mis- 



MEXICAN MISSIONS. 3OI 

sionaries including wives, 5 ladies of the Woman's Board, 5 
ordained and about 20 other native helpers, 850 communi- 
cants, and over 2,000 probable adherents, in 34 congregations. 
There are 14 Sunday schools, with 675 scholars ; 13 day schools, 
with 600 scholars; 10 church edifices, and 25 other places of 
worship. There are $120,000 of church property, and two 
presses in use. Two periodicals are issued, the Illustrated 
Monthly, having a circulation of 2,500 copies, and the Sunday 
School paper, a circulation of 1,800 monthly. The total num- 
ber of pages issued in 1882 was 2,470,445. 

The centres of the Methodist Church South are Mexico City, 
Puebla, Oaxaca, Toluca, and Leon. They issue two monthly 
papers, and are giving due attention to educational work. 

In 1883 the statistics of these twelve Christian Missions, kindly 
furnished me by Dr. Butler, are as follows : — 

Foreign missionaries, including wives 69 

Foreign female missionaries of Woman's Boards . 16 

Native laborers ordained 40 

" " un-ordained 163 

Congregations 264 

Communicants i3>°96 

Probable adherents 27,300 

Sunday schools 130 

" " scholars 4,654 

Day schools 82 

Male pupils ^5 7° 

Female pupils 1,5 16 

Church edifices 45 

Other places of worship 219 

Probable value of church property $462,850 

Presses in use 1 1 

Periodicals issued 12 

Total circulation of all 14,000 

Pages of religious literature issued in 1882 . . . 3>57°>445 

Theological students 3*> 

There has been little display of sectarian bitterness, the differ- 
ent denominations recognizing the importance of resolute mutual 



302 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

endeavor. In the apportionment of Mexico for most effectual 
work, the northeast, including Monterey, has been taken by the 
Baptists ; Chihuahua and the northwest by the Congregational- 
ists ; the Presbyterians are mainly in the central States, and the 
Methodists in the valley of Mexico and to the south of it 

I cannot find better words in which to conclude this state- 
ment of mission work than the following, by the Rev. S. T. 
Wilson. 

" It does not require a long residence in Mexico to impress one anew 
with these truths : — 

" i. This is a transition epoch in the history of the country. A half- 
century of struggle with foreign domination and with ecciesiasticism, 
resulting in the apparently firm establishment of a republic and the com- 
plete divorcement of Church and State, has at last given place to peace. 
Mexico's pulse beats more normally than ever before. Her energies, 
instead of finding their vent in rebellions, are now devoted to arts 
of peace. Encouraged by this peace and by the government, foreign- 
ers are investing their capital and enterprise in railroads, mines, and 
manufactories. Steam and electricity render the success of rebellions 
almost hopeless. The scream of the locomotive is breaking even the 
profound quiet of the snow-crowned mountains. The burros and carga- 
dores, Mexico's traditional burden-bearers, look on in wonder as their 
occupation vanishes. The electric light in the Grand Plaza of this city 
shines on excavated columns and sculptures of the old Aztec temple, as 
well as on the hoary cathedral and deserted Inquisition building, as if to 
rebuke the deeds of darkness of the past. Just as marked is the transi- 
tion in religious matters. The more intelligent liberals, disgusted with 
' The Church,' are naturally making their transit into infidelity. The 
common classes are more and more asserting their liberty of conscience. 
Mediaeval bigotry has to struggle with modern liberalism in a constantly 
increasing number of towns. The Bible and its religion are daily growing 
in favor. 

" 2. Rome will not make the right use of this transition period. As 
changeless as the pyramids, as remorseless as the grave, that Church re- 
mains the same. Mainly responsible for the continuance of the dark age 
that has so long enveloped Mexico, she makes every endeavor to perpet- 
uate that darkness. The patron of slavery, she has bitterly resisted every 
step toward liberty. The direct cause of Mexico's immorality, so incred- 



MEXICAN MISSIONS. 303 

ible in its extent and baseness, she would gladly burn all who teach the 
truth. The National Museum may, with reason, enclose within the same 
walls the blood-stained sacrificial stone of the Aztec paganism, and two 
skeletons of victims of the Inquisition. Martyr blood has consecrated 

several churches in Mexico 

" 3. That the necessary conclusion is that the opportunities and respon- 
sibilities of the Mexican transition belong to Protestantism. The door is 
wide open." 

The Mexican government guarantees the protection of all 
religious denominations, yet there have been many disturbances 
and frequent murders. The first week I was in Mexico I met 
two missionaries who had been chased out of Queretaro by a 
mob incited by the bishop of that city. Though the govern- 
ment vindicated its honor and supremacy by returning them 
under the protection of troops, yet on the withdrawal of the 
latter they were left in the same danger as before. 

A few weeks later, a native missionary was set upon and 
stabbed to death by a mob of religious fanatics, near Apizaco, 
on the principal railroad of Mexico, and nothing was done to 
punish them. A month later another native preacher was shot 
at, near the ancient city of Tezcoco, and then lodged in jail 
upon complaint of the very men who attempted his life. And 
his accusers? They are pursuing their peaceful vocations 
unmolested, ready to renew the fight whenever opportunity 
offers. 

It is not in the large cities that these outbreaks occur, as a 
rule, but in remote settlements in the country, where the people 
yet blindly follow priestly counsel. But year by year Mexico 
is growing more enlightened, and newspapers and books are 
increasing in circulation with great rapidity. In the republic 
there are some twenty large libraries, containing in all 236,000 
volumes, and private libraries with from 1,000 to 10,000 vol- 
umes each, and collections of rare manuscripts. 

There were published, in the year 1874, 168 magazines and 
pamphlets, of which 18 were scientific, 9 literary, 2 artistical, 26 
religious, and 118 political. In 1882 the newspapers published 
in Mexico numbered 283, of which 94 appeared in the capital. 



304 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

They printed in the aggregate 378,096 copies, with a total cir- 
culation of 46,778,858 copies. Of these, there are two in the 
English language, "The Two Republics," owned and ably edited 
by Mr. J. Mastella Clarke, and " The Mexican Financier," a 
weekly bilingual journal, founded by a New York gentleman, 
and conducted by young Boston journalists of great promise 
and ability. 

Religion and politics, and sometimes education, often go hand 
in hand, so it will not seem a wide departure from the subject to 
mention that politicians, even statesmen, are in rather bad odor 
in what is called " society " in Mexico. And this society, like 
the blood of the people composing it, is decidedly mixed, al- 
though the Creoles and those of Spanish birth, and especially 
those loyal to the Church, are its leaders. It is not considered 
a reproach to be looked down upon by society, for each grade 
of this heterogeneous people has led it by the nose, — even the 
Indian, when Juarez was President. President Gonzalez is said 
to have Indian blood in his veins, and Diaz, the great power 
behind the throne, and which he fain would constantly occupy, 
is likewise a Mestizo. The politicians, however, like Romero, 
Mariscal, and a small host of other famous Mexicans, comprise 
the more advanced scholars of the country. 



XVI. 

A DAY IN THE MUSEUMS. 

/^\NE need never be at loss where to go in Mexico for evi- 
^-^ dences of its past civilization, as some object hoary with 
antiquity rears its head at every corner. In a portion of the 
immense building known as the Palace is the Mexican Museum, 
El Museo National, into which are gathered all the "finds" in 
archaeological fields. Entering the court, one sees, through a 
drapery of vines, the famous " sacrificial stone," occupying the 
centre of a lovely garden of flowers ; beyond and above it 
towers the once-dreaded Huitzilopochtli, the great war-god of 
the Aztecs ; while each side is flanked by a statue, the one on 
the left obtained in Tlascala, and that on the right in Yucatan. 
A nondescript monument rises in the eastern part of the garden, 
with frogs and snakes of stone squatted and coiled about its 
base ; idols lie scattered over the pavement of the courts and 
in the shrubbery, and images of stone and marble, possessing 
great value for their antiquity and the skill shown in their work- 
manship. 

The immense sacrificial stone upon which, according to his- 
torians, so many thousand victims have been offered up, is worn 
and polished by the weather ; while the statue on the right — of 
Chaacmol, the tiger-king, discovered by Dr. Le Plongeon in the 
wilds of Yucatan — is becoming covered with a pernicious dis- 
coloration. 1 Poor Chaacmol ! to remain buried so many years ; 
to be unearthed by an enterprising archaeologist ; to be destined 
for the United States, but finally to rest ignominiously in 'this 
court, half hidden by surrounding plants, and growing green 
with exposure to elements from which he had so long been 
protected. 

1 See page 108. 
20 



306 



TRAVELS IX MEXICO. 




THE SACRIFICIAL STONE. 

And Huitzilopochtli, — a sweet name to roll under one's 
tongue, — for how many years has this venerable war-god 
blinked in the noonday sun, and had his massive head washed 
by the afternoon rains ! It is possible that he with the rest will 
be afforded a shelter when the Museum is ready to receive him. 
I regard him as the most interesting relic of that past age 
of idolatry, for there is mention of him among the first objects 
shown Cortes by Montezuma, when he ascended with him to 
the temple. Let us see what that companion of Cortes, Bernal 
Diaz, says about it : " Here were two altars highly adorned, 
with richly-wrought timbers on the roof, and over the altars 
gigantic figures representing very fat men. The one on the 
right was Huitzilopochtli, their war-god, with a great face and 
terrible eyes. This figure was entirely covered with gold and 
jewels, and his body bound with golden serpents ; in his right 
hand he held a bow, and in his left a bundle of arrows. The 
great idol had round his neck figures of human heads and 
hearts made of pure gold and silver, ornamented with precious 
stones of a blue color. Before the idol was a pan of incense, 
with three hearts of human victims, which were then burning, 
mixed with copal. The whole of that apartment, both walls 
and floor, was stained with human blood." 



A DAY IN THE MUSEUMS. 



307 




TOP OF SACRIFICIAL STONE. 



A miscellaneous lot of gods, goddesses, and objects of wor- 
ship, fare yet worse than the greater deities ; for, piled up against 




SCULPTURE ON THE SIDE. 



308 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

the side cf a building, they are exposed to the rude assaults of 
man and beast. A horse was stabled in that quarter of the gar- 
den at the time of my visit, close by these valuable antiquities, 
and, judging by the appearance of some of them, he had given 
expression to his contempt by kicking off their noses and ears. 

Leaving this court, where two palms give a tropic cast to the 
complexion of the garden, we seek access to the museum. En- 
trance once gained, through a gallery lined with portraits of the 
famous viceroys of Mexico, with a full-length of Maximilian on 
horseback in the background, one soon sees what a valuable 
collection this is, which has been accumulated during the past 
ninety years. There is an authentic portrait of Cortes ; opposite is 
his banner, — that silken pennon so often in peril from the savage 
hordes it was borne amongst. One room is filled with the silver 
service of Maximilian, some antique armor and relics of the 
conquerors, while valuable portraits of the viceroys and bishops 
of Mexico adorn the walls above. Entering the largest room, 
one sees some fine specimens of that famous picture-writing of 
the Aztecs, such as they used for conveying to Montezuma the 
intelligence of the arrival of the white strangers on his coast, in 
those fateful years of the conquest. There are images here, and 
gods of every known shape and kind, for the ancient Mexicans 
rejoiced in a greater variety of gods than any other nation ex- 
isting at that time. It is related, I remember, that when Cor- 
tes proposed to the Tlascalans to abjure their gods, and set up 
the Virgin Mary instead, they made reply that " they could not 
do that, but they would give her a fair show with the rest." 
Whole or none was the policy of Cortes, and he later com- 
pelled them to cast down their idols and set up an image of his 
own choice. 

This is a benevolent government, and encourages the learned 
and scientific men of all countries to come here and study. It 
opens to them its vast fields of archaeological treasures, and 
says, " Come and investigate " ; it points out pyramids and 
mounds, and says to those wise men from other lands, " Come 
and dig " ; and then it swoops down upon the findings of those 
wise men and carries them to the Museum. 



A DAY IN THE MUSEUMS. 309 

Yet who can blame it? An antiquarian is not like the wise 
man, who found a treasure and went straightway and hid it; but 
he, immediately he discovers anything of value, sets up such a 
howl of self-glorification that the attention of the whole world is 
directed thereto. Then, while the excavator is absent, looking 
for some means of conveying his treasure out of the country, 
the government steps in and quietly carries it off. Thus 
Mexico is enriched. The government is apathetic in regard 
to ruins and antiquities — till somebody finds something, then 
it is wide awake at once. It does not even gather in the monu- 
ments, minor and greater, that lie scattered about the fields. 

A case in point occurred in the summer of 1881. The Chi- 
cago Times sent out an expedition to Mexico for the purpose 
of unearthing buried monuments. Captain Evans, who com- 
prised the expedition, was here two months, and during that 
time was not idle. , He found in Tezcoco, the ancient capital of 
art and civilization before the conquest, a " calendar stone," — 
or the half of one, — some five or six feet long and three or 
four wide. This stone had been discovered some six months 
previously by the poor man who owned the mound, yet no one 
in the city of Mexico knew of it till announced by Captain 
Evans. It is a valuable sculpture, but the Mexican government 
will make no attempt to house it. It will wait till some one 
less wary than Captain Evans comes along, purchases it of the 
owner, and tries to carry it away ; when it reaches a railroad 
leading to Mexico, it will be quietly drawn into the Museum, 
and there remain. There is here a small collection of earthen 
ware, that reminds us of the exploits of a foreign archaeologist 
in Mexico, — one who came there with a great flourish of trum- 
pets, but who departed without a great deal of pottery. 

Some of the people of Mexico are afflicted with a complaint 
known as the mahana fever. If you ask them anything, the 
answer is manana, — to-morrow. They eat, drink, and sleep 
to-day, but do their work and grant their favors — manana. 

And speaking of this manana sickness reminds me that it is 
contagious. The most notable instance is that of this well- 
known archaeologist. Read his communications, and they are 



310 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

found breathing the very spirit of " mananaism." He came to 
Mexico, stopped at the best hotel, entertaining strangers with 
descriptions of the excavations — that he was going to make. 
Now and again he skipped out of town for a few days, dug a 
hole somewhere, and brought back fragments of pottery that 
indicated valuable deposits to be found — manana. He was 
always going to find a buried city ■ — to-morrow ; a palace — 
to-morrow ; he will draw you a plan of his work and make all 
clear — to-morrow ; his photographs, the best in the world, are 
not now to be seen, but — to-morrow ; his casts, to enlighten the 
world, may be seen — manana ; and it is not surprising to find 
that he finally left the country to the tune of manana music. 

Lest it should be inferred from the foregoing that the Mexi- 
can government does not extend a helping hand to the cause 
of science, I hasten to add that the contrary is the fact. 
Although revolutions have shaken this country terribly in the 
past, fair Science walks serenely on, its eye fixed steadfastly 
upon the stars. A rapid sketch of the history of this institution, 
the National Museum, will prove this. It is translated from the 
annals of the Museum itself. 

When that pious furor was over which animated the first 
Archbishop of Mexico, Zumarraga, and the conquerors and 
missionaries, who destroyed all the ancient writings and Aztec 
monuments that fell in their way, — considered by them as 
invincible obstacles to the abolishment of idolatry amongst the 
subjugated Indians, — there succeeded a more enlightened epoch, 
when it was seen what an irreparable loss the history of the 
New World had met with. Some of the kings of Spain under- 
took to repair, by every means possible, the evil caused by 
ignorance and fanaticism, and at different times ordered to be 
collected all the documents that would serve to illustrate the 
history of America, and appointed chroniclers of the Indies, 
who were charged with writing it out. The viceroys of Mex- 
ico, following this impulse, commenced to collect and deposit 
in the archives of the viceroyalty that which they thought of in- 
terest. We should not fail to mention the collection of Boturini, 
called his historical Indian Museum, — a rich collection of many 



%tffi$ 




AZTEC CYCLE AND CALENDAR. 



A DAY IN THE MUSEUMS. 



313 



maps, hieroglyphs on skin and cloth of agave, and manuscripts 
written posterior to the conquest, confiscated by the colonial 
government. Owing to the negligence of those who had it in 
charge, this valuable treasure was lost, little by little, and to- 
day the Museum possesses only a portion of it. It was proba- 
bly on this account that it was ordered that all the documents 
relating to Mexican antiquities be delivered into the care of the 
Royal University. Another of the viceroys, Count Revillagi- 
gedo, ordered that the antiquities found at the levelling of the 
Plaza Mayor, in 1790, should be deposited in the University for 
special study ; with the exception of the " calendar stone," which 
was asked of him by a commission of the cathedral, and set up 
in its present position, against the western wall of that edifice. 
In this manner there was formed in the University a gathering 
point for the historic documents and archaeological monuments 
of Mexico. 

In November, 1822, the national government established in 
the same edifice a conservatory of antiquities and cabinet of 
natural history; in 1831, upon motion of Don Lucas Alaman, 
both establishments were reconstructed under the name of the 
National Museum. Later, in December, 1865, the Archduke 
Maximilian removed the Museum to its present quarters in 
the national palace, formerly occupied by the mint. 

At the organization of the national government, in 1867, a 
sum of five hundred dollars per month was voted for the ex- 
penses of this establishment. The Museum comprehends, and 
is divided into three departments, — Natural History, Archaeol- 
ogy, and Bibliography. 

A valuable feature of this institution is the publication of its 
" Annals," containing descriptions of the historic objects in the 
Museum, and of all antiquities pertaining to Mexico. The first 
of these Anales del Museo National de Mexico appeared in 1877, 
containing articles by Senores Mendoza, Sanchez, Orozco y 
Berra, and Barcena. They have appeared with regularity, and 
constitute a most valuable addition to the literature of Ana- 
huac. The lithographic plates, executed in Mexico, beauti- 
fully colored, are the admiration of all who see them. There 



3*4 



TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 



have been in all about twenty parts issued, which are exchanged 
for the publications of the scientific societies of other countries, 
and also sold at one dollar each. 

But enough of the history of this institution, though it is 

necessary to a com- 
plete understanding of 
its collections. We 
have merely glanced 
over these, since to de- 
scribe them would de- 
mand the space of a 
volume devoted espe- 
cially to antiquities. It 
is only recently that 
they have been cata- 
logued, and the student 
made acquainted with 
the locale of some of the 
rarest historical objects 
on the American con- 
tinent. 

The most celebrated 
of these antiquities have 
been already mentioned, 
— the sacrificial stone, 
and the image of the 
Aztec war god, Huitzi- 
lopochtli. As to the 
latter, let his picture 







wJH 



WSW-.w'. ***£*>' 



HUITZILOPOCHTLI, GOD OF WAR. 



speak for him; it is 
not known when he 
was sculptured, but it 
is known that he was found buried in the great square, in 1790, 
— that he was again interred, for fear that he might tempt the 
Indians to their ancient worship, but again exhumed in 1821. 
Fruitless discussions have been had, as to whether it is Huitzi- 
lopochtli, or Teoyaomiqui, goddess of death. It matters not; the 



A DAY IN THE MUSEUMS. 



315 



statue was worshipped, rivers of blood have flowed before it, 
and innocent men and maidens have perished in its presence, 
for the hearts of human victims were kept smoking on its altar 
night and day. 

The sacrificial stone is inseparably connected with the name 
of Huitzilopochtli, since it was upon it that the victims gave up 
their lives. Of this we have data, which enable us to state when 
it was hewn out from the quarry of Coyoacan and sculptured, 
with its endless procession of conquering kings. I need not 
call the reader's attention to what Prescott has written regard- 
ing this very stone, to what all the historians of Mexico have 
said in confirmation of the statement that upon this stone, in 
a single year, sixty thousand human victims were offered up 
in sacrifice ! It is nine feet in diameter, three feet in height, 
and carved on top and sides, with a deep bowl in the centre, 
and a channel leading to the edge. This is suggestive, this 
gutter for the blood of the victim to flow in, and self-explan- 
atory. 

Another great monolith, illustrating the advancement of the 
Aztecs in the art of sculpture, is the calendar stone, — not in the 
Museum, but cemented into the western wall of the cathedral. 
We know, from reading Prescott, Clavigero, Humboldt, and 
others, that the ancient Aztecs, and before them the Toltecs, 
were in a measure civilized. It is claimed that they could cal- 
culate the recurrence of their cycles, the solstices, etc., and that 
this " Calendar Stone " was indeed a perpetual calendar. Such 
has been the result of the interpretations of the hieroglyphs on 
its face by the learned Gama, Gallatin, and others ; but more 
recent writers advance the opinion that it was solely intended 
to commemorate the feast-days, and to preserve in the memory 
of man the years of the cycles that had passed at the time it 
was engraved. 1 This latter interpretation would seem to be the 
correct one, but we will not enter into the discussion. It is on 
record that this stone was also hewn from a block of basalt 

1 See " Calendario Azteco, Ensayo Archaeologico, por A. Chavero," Mexico. 
1876 ; and " The Mexican Calendar Stone," by Philipp J. J. Valentini, Proc. Amer. 
Ant. Society, October, 1878. 



3i6 



TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 




quarried in Coyoacan, and was brought to the city with attend- 
ant feasts, and songs, and dancing, in the year 1479, during the 
reign of the great and bloody Axayacatl. Its face is eleven 
feet eight inches in diameter, and the whole mass is said to 
weigh twenty-six tons. 

As to the picture-writing, some specimens of it are preserved 
here, though the best examples are to be found scattered 

abroad in some of the 
libraries of Europe. 
Both pictorial and 
symbolic in its char- 
acter, the Aztec man- 
uscript was prepared 
from, and its charac- 
ters written on, either 
deer-skin or maguey 
paper. One is men- 
tioned over sixty feet 
long, a narrow strip, 
folded after the man- 
ner of a book, with 
wooden slips at the extremities, which formed the covers when 
closed. 

Although the best and most valuable Aztec manuscripts, or 
picture-paintings, were destroyed by Zumarraga, first Bishop of 
Mexico, some remained, and others — as soon as the Spaniards 
became sensible of their error — were produced by learned 
Indians, by order of the Viceroy. We know that the Mexi- 
cans were very apt at depicting scenes and representing occur- 
rences, and that the landing of the Spaniards, in 15 19, with 
all its attendant circumstances, was transmitted to Montezuma 
by his skilful painters before the bustle of that event had sub- 
sided. 

In the great book by Lord Kingsborough we may find the 
various " Codices " produced in fac-simile, with all the bright 
colors of the originals. I have in my possession a lithographed 
chart in black and white, of some five metres in length, pre- 



THE CAVE PERIOD. 
(Aztec Picture-Writing. ) 



A DAY IN THE MUSEUMS. 



317 



pared by direction of that indefatigable archaeologist, Mr. 
Squier, so well known as an authority on Central America. 1 

Four " maps," or charts, are given ; the first, a history of the 
sovereign states and the kings of Acolhuacan, is a non-chrono- 
logical map, belonging to the collection of Boturini. It is on 
prepared skin, and represents the genealogy of the Chichimeque 




NOMADIC PERIOD. 
(Aztec Picture- Writing.) 

emperors, from Tlotzin to the last king, Don Fernando Ixtlilxo- 
chitl, and has a number of paragraphs in Nahuatl, or Mexican. 
It belonged, according to an inscription on the back, to Don 
Diego Pimental, descendant of King Nezalhualcoyotl. It gives a 
summary of the wars, pestilences, etc., which destroyed the Tol- 
tecs, and depicts the journeyings of the barbarous Chichimecs 
who invaded the valley of Anahuac, and finally established them- 
selves at Tezcoco. 

1 I deem it a duty to our museums and antiquarian societies to call attention to 
this series of Aztec manuscripts in possession of Mr. Frank Squier, of 84 Duane 
Street, New York. This gentleman has assured me that he would willingly dis- 
pose of his duplicate copies, at a very low price, in order that these valuable repro- 
ductions might be disseminated. 



318 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

I produce here fragments of two of the pictures, showing 
them as living in the caves of Chicamoztoc, their subsequent 
migration, and their barbarous nomadic life, when they sub- 
sisted entirely upon the chase and the wild plants of the field. 
The second series pictures them as having settled at Tezcoco, 
and engaged in the pursuits of agriculture, being surrounded 
by figures of the maguey, cultivated cactus, and other plants. 
The third gives us a glimpse of their later life, after they had 
assimilated the remnant of the Toltecs remaining in the valley, 
and had learned from them the arts for which the latter people 
had been distinguished, such as the casting of metals, the manu- 
facture of jewelry, copper utensils, etc. The most valuable of 
the series is called " Map Tepechpan," also one of the Boturini 
collection, and consists of synchronous annals of the princi- 
palities of Tepechpan and Mexico, commencing with the year 
1298, and ending at the conquest; subsequently extended by 
less skilful hands to 1596. Like the two manuscripts before 
spoken of, these go back to the savage era of the Chichimecs, 
but give the leading events in the Tepanec and Mexican tribes 
until the establishment of the Mexican empire, thence relating 
exclusively to the latter. Wars, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, 
inundations, etc., are all accurately recorded under the date of 
their occurrence. The coming of Cortes, the death of Monte- 
zuma and his nephew, and the accession of Guatemotzin, are all 
intelligibly set down here in unmistakable characters. 

Among the many attractive articles in the Museum is Monte- 
zuma's feather-covered shield, below and beyond which are cases 
of carved stone, in every shape the fertile Indian imagination 
could suggest ; to describe them would require a catalogue. 

That rare volcanic glass, obsidian, was early used by the Mexi- 
can aborigines in the manufacture of arrow and spear heads, 
and even mirrors and curious masks are shown here, carved 
and polished. Vases of clay, black, and painted in many colors, 
with grotesque figures wrought, we also find, of which the 
finest, perhaps, is that bearing the image and symbols of the 
goddess Centeotl, the Mexican Ceres. Of the thousand and one 
gods possessed by the Aztecs, there were thirteen which held 



A DAY IN THE MUSEUMS. 



3*9 



high rank. The supreme being was Teotl ; but their greatest 
god represented by earthly symbol was Tezcatlipoca, or " the 
Shining Mirror," while Ometeuctli and Omecihuatl were re- 
spectively god and goddess only a little less powerful than the 
second. The god of storms and master of paradise was one 
Tlaloc, whose residence on earth was the volcano Popocatapetl. 

Of the tepitoton, or 
little gods, the Mexican 
penates, there were a vast 
number in olden times, 
for each noble was en- 
titled to six in his house 
at once, and of these 
Bishop Zumarraga de- 
stroyed, it is said, at 
least twenty thousand. 

So many and so vari- 
ous are the objects col- 
lected here, that it must 
have taken centuries of 
toil and the slow de- 
velopment of inventive 
genius to produce them. 
We can well believe the 
statement of an English 
antiquarian collecting in 
Mexican fields, that he often made trial whether it were possible 
to stand still in any spot where there was no relic of Old Mex- 
ico within sight, and found he could not. Carved objects are 
numerous, as shown by the masks, the teponaztli, or Mexican 
drum, and the so-called " sacrificial collars." These latter re- 
minded me of some I had seen in Porto Rico, of which the 
Smithsonian Institution has the only complete series, and which 
are described and figured in the Reports of the Institution by 
Professor Mason. There seems to be the same doubt as to 
the use of these strange stones as hangs over those " collars " 
from Porto Rico. A teacher in the Jesuit college at San Juan, 




VASE IN THE MUSEUM. 



320 



TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 



in that island, told me that Indian tradition related that these 
stones, which in Porto Rico are oval, and shaped exactly like 
horse-collars, were the private property of persons of rank, and 
were made by them during life to be buried with them at death, 
being placed over the head and upon the breast of the corpse. 

One other object claims my attention here, as I speak of that 
famed island in the West Indian group, where Columbus first 
found Indians approaching in their mode of life to civilization, 

and this is the cele- 
brated perro mudo, or 
dumb dog. There is, 
or was, a statue of him, 
and I think he was 
the animal of all oth- 
ers most worthy this 
honor, for he could 
neither bark nor bite. 
Now this animal, the 
alco, or wild dog, the 
Spaniards found in 
Mexico, Peru, and the 
West India Islands. It 
was a cherished object 
of affection with the 
Indians of Haiti espe- 
cially, who carried it 
in their arms wherever 
they went, and equally 
esteemed was it by the 
Aztecs and other Mexicans, though as an article of food. It 
was called by them Techichi, and by the Spaniards el perro 
mudo, or the silent dog. After the conquest, the Spaniards, 
having neither cattle nor sheep, provided their markets with this 
animal, and soon, though once numerous, it became extinct; 
but it is said' to exist among the Apaches to-day. The Aztecs 
held the belief that the Techichi acted as a guide through the 
dark regions after death. As none of these dogs have been 




"sacrificial collar. 



A DAY IN THE MUSEUMS. 321 

seen for quite three hundred years or more, it is presumed that 
the entire race is employed in this duty of guiding the spirits 
of departed Aztecs through the shades of purgatory. 

Some visitors to Mexico have complained, through their writ- 
ings, that there is little to be seen here or elsewhere of that work 
of the goldsmiths in which the Mexicans excelled. Where, says 
one, are the calendars of solid gold and silver, as big as great 
wheels, and covered with hieroglyphics ? where the golden 
birds and beasts and fishes ? They have all gone to the melt- 
ing-pot centuries ago. This is indeed true, for the kings of 
Spain, though the conquistadores sent them many, many rare 
and curious works in silver, gold, and gems, were wofully lack- 
ing in the antiquarian spirit, and put these priceless treasures to 
ignoble uses. To-day the native Mexican excels in the produc- 
tion of filigree work in silver, but in little else. 

The ancient Aztecs, at the time of their discovery by Euro- 
peans, in 1520, were acquainted with many arts that are lost at 
the present day. Their works in silver and gold were the admi- 
ration of all who beheld them ; and when brought to the notice 
of the goldsmiths of Europe, they declared they could not equal 
them ; they cut gems and wrought precious metals in the forms 
of fishes, birds, and beasts, imitating, in fact, nearly every object 
in nature. Their numberless idols testify to their skill in carving 
stone, and their wonderful picture-writings remain to attest their 
fertile fancy in the invention of symbols for ideas. They pos- 
sessed in a high degree the true artistic instinct, and nothing will 
so well confirm the truth of this statement as their remarkable 
feather pictures. When the Spanish conquerors invaded Mexico, 
they were struck with the exquisite beauty of the plumaje, or 
feather-work, of the Aztecs. Even the stout old soldiers, who 
fought through all the battles in which Cortes was engaged, 
make mention of it as among the beautiful objects that first 
greeted their eyes in the markets of Mexico. 

Though the race that then occupied that country was nearly 
exterminated, and the skilful artists and artisans dispersed, this 
art survived even the persecutions of centuries, and is among the 
few relics preserved of Aztec refinement and civilization. It has 



322 



TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 



been handed down from father to son, guarded as a secret so 
closely that but few of the Mexican Indians of the present day- 
are adepts at it. The feather pictures produced by them are 
as much works of art as the best paintings ; and the beautiful 
feathers of trogon, paroquet, and humming-bird are as deli- 
cately laid on and as skilfully blended as the colors from the 
hand of a master. 

Another evidence of refinement of taste in the Indian is to 
be found in the " rag figures," which have a reputation that 
is not less than world-wide. The French, in their invasion of 
Mexico, went into raptures over these mar- 
vellous imitations of life scenes that were 
passing before their eyes every day, and 
declared they excelled the work of the best 
Chinese, Genoese, and Japanese workmen. 
The Aztec is patient ; therein lies the secret 
of his success. Whether he be engaged in 
blending the metallic scales from the hum- 
ming-bird's throat in one of those wonder- 
ful feather pictures, or whether moulding an 
image from plastic material, he puts his whole 
soul into the work, and considers not time 
nor labor till the thing is accomplished. The 
vast multitudes that throng the streets and 
markets of Mexico furnish him with subjects 
for his patient fingers. Upon a core of care- 
fully-manipulated wax he moulds a skin of 
thin, specially-prepared cloth, tinted the exact color of the tawny 
people he purposes to represent. He does not draw upon his 
imagination for material, but imitates exactly the figures that 
move through the street before his workshop door. 

Thus we have speaking likenesses of every type in Mexico, 
from the poor Indian, whose nakedness is barely concealed by a 
tattered shirt or leather breeches, to the gayly decorated cabal- 
lero, mounted upon his silver-bespangled steed. There is the 
charcoal-seller, with a donkey-load of coal upon his back; it 
may be man or woman, and if the latter, she will have, in addi- 




FIGURE IN WAX. 



A DAY IN THE MUSEUMS. 323 

tion to the burden on her shoulders, a baby suspended in the 
reboso. Another woman, from the canal and the " floating 
gardens," has immense bouquets in her hands, and a tray of 
tropical fruits balanced upon her head. Then there is the 
vender of crockery, who has on his back a huge crate of all 
sorts of earthen ware ; one group represents him chaffing with 
a customer, so natural in execution that we are transported at 
once to the markets of Mexico, and mixing in the busy throng 
in the Plaza Mayor. A lepero closely follows, a mongrel Mexi- 
can, with hand outstretched for alms, and his mouth open, from 
which we may almost imagine we hear the cry, " Por dios, 
sefior." He has one eye closed as if blind, and his tattered 
leather breeches barely hang together. He passes, and a white- 
headed Indian trots in sight, bearing a load of fireworks on his 
shoulders, and all the paraphernalia for the celebration of Holy 
Week. A basket-maker comes next, then a man with tunas, or 
prickly-pears, for sale, and all sorts of vegetables and flowers, 
colored by the artist to exactly imitate the natural article. 

While Mexico is fast becoming modernized, it is fortunate, 
perhaps, that the customs and costumes of the people are thus 
perpetuated. It will not be many years before the traveller will 
have to go many a mile, and seek through many a city, for 
the gorgeous caballero who is a common sight in the capital to- 
day; for the advent of railroads is producing a great change, not 
only in the face of the country, but in the habits and costumes 
of the people. They are gradually adopting European styles of 
dress, and throwing off the garb of their forefathers, which has 
stamped them as the most original and picturesque people on 
the face of the earth. The only consolation of the future traveller 
lies in the fact, that among these people dwell those skilful artists 
who have reproduced in wax and plaster perfect types of these 
unique costumes, which are fast becoming obsolete. 

The archaeological fields of Mexico are exceeding rich, 1 but 

1 The author would call attention to the fact that he has enumerated and par- 
ticularly described (for the first time, it is believed) all the principal ruins, and 
groups of ruins, in Mexico, of interest to the student of American archaeology. A 
reference to the Index, under the head of Ruins, or Antiquities, will enable the 
eurious reader to trace and locate this line of ancient cities. 



324 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

we cannot linger in them longer ; let us hasten to visit another 
place. It is only a block away from the Museum that we 
find a public institution which shows yet more forcibly what a 
truly munificent government has at some time or other ruled 
over Mexico. This is the Academy of Fine Arts, the Institute 
of San Carlos, founded in 1781. "We are astonished," says 
Humboldt, " at seeing here that the Apollo of Belvedere, the 
group of Laocoon, and still more colossal statues, have been con- 
veyed through mountain roads at least as narrow as those of St. 
Gothard ; and we are surprised at finding these masterpieces of 
antiquity collected together under the torrid zone, in a table-land 
higher than the convent of the great St. Bernard." The casts 
are scarcely worthy of notice in these later times, but there 
seems to me much to admire in the five saloons devoted to 
paintings. The first and second are crowded with the works of 
the old Mexican painters, and contain some very worthy pro- 
ductions, mostly treating of sacred subjects ; several dating from 
a period nearly three centuries ago, but more of two hundred 
years back. 

The European school is well represented in the third by 
copies and originals, containing, among others, three by Ru- 
bens, one a large Descent from the Cross ; a Saint John of God, 
by Murillo ; one Titian ; three paintings from the school of 
Leonardo da Vinci ; the Olympic Games, by Charles Vernet ; 
an Episode of the Deluge, by Coglieti ; Saint Jerome, by 
Alonzo Cano ; a Saint Sebastian, attributed to Van Dyck ; a 
Virgin by Perugino ; and another by Pietro de Cortona ; an 
Odalisque, by Decaen ; and several pictures from the Flemish 
and Dutch schools. 

But though an artist might linger longest in these galleries, 
the fourth and fifth saloons possess greater charms for the lover 
of Mexico and the student of her progress, for they are devoted 
to the works of the modern Mexican school. The fourth con- 
tains those beautiful paintings of the valley of Mexico, rendered 
so faithfully, pictured so entrancingly, by the renowned Velasco, 
and which were exhibited by the government at the Centennial 
Exposition in the United States. One would not need go to 



A DAY IN THE MUSEUMS. 325 

Mexico to see that wonderful valley, if he could obtain those 
glorious paintings. The ceiling of the fifth and largest is 
adorned with medallions containing men famous in science and 
art. In the centre is a grand painting, one I have long desired 
to see placed upon canvas by an American descendant of the 
mother of the New World, — Columbus presenting the fruits of 
his first voyage to Isabella and Ferdinand. Such a Columbus, 
and such a queen ! And the Indians, timorous, yet with their 
native dignity clothing them as with a mantle. They bring to 
mind the picture painted by the poet, where Madoc describes 
them to his friends in Wales : — 

" What men were they ? Of dark brown color, tinged 
With sunny redness ; wild of eye ; their brows 
So smooth, as never yet anxiety 
Nor busy thought had made a furrow there ; 
Beardless, and each to each of lineaments 
So like, they seemed but one great family. 
Their loins were loosely cinctured, all beside 
Bare to the sun and wind ; and thus their limbs, 
Unmanacled, displayed the truest forms 
Of strength and beauty." 

At the farther end, by itself, as if worthy a special niche in 
this Mexican temple of fame, — as it is, — one sees the famous 
work of the young artist, Felix Parra, " Las Casas Protecting 
the Indians," — Las Casas, good Bishop of Chiapas, whose life 
was passed fruitlessly fighting the enemies of the Indian. It 
must have been a genius of more than ordinary grasp (though 
it requires not much study to find a conception worthy one's 
highest effort in the history of oppressed Mexico) who could 
thus have pictured the immortal Bishop and his down-trodden 
people. It seems, indeed, that the Mexican artist succeeds 
best when he devotes himself to historic scenes, for which he 
has a rich field in the conquest of his own country. In the 
" Massacre in the Temple " we have a confirmation of this. How 
vividly he has succeeded in portraying the leading figures in 
that ruthless slaughter, when Alvarado, taking advantage of the 
absence of Cort6s from the city, fell upon the Mexican nobles, 
their wives and children, and murdered them mercilessly. 



326 



TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 



"The Capture of Cortes" at Xichimilco is strong and spirited. 
It brings to mind that dreadful day when the Aztecs wellnigh 
gained a victory, and Cortes himself, struggling in the grasp 
of brawny Indians, would have been hurried to the temple of 
sacrifice but for the opportune arrival of two of his brave sol- 
diers. It is to be hoped that the sons of Mexico will hence- 
forth break away from blindly copying saints, cherubs, angels, 
and ecclesiastics, and devote their genius to the study of the 
thousand stirring episodes in the history of their own country. 
Already we see that it was not in vain that the king of Spain 
established here this school of art; although its disciples owe 
him and his successors allegiance no longer, yet the world at 
large will receive the benefit. 




XVII. 

THE MARKETS AND FLOATING GARDENS. 

FROM the art gallery it is not a long stride to the markets, 
for they are only around the corner of the Palace, and 
though one may not find there pictures by old masters, he may 
obtain plenty of material for new sketches. The companion 
of Cortes, to whom I have before referred, has a description of 
the market-place of the capital as it appeared to that chief- 
tain in the year 15 19. It affords interesting matter for com- 
parison with the condition of the same place at the present 
day. " We were astonished at the crowds of people and the 
regularity which prevailed, as well as at the vast quantities of 
merchandise which those who attended us were assiduous in 
pointing out. Each kind had its particular place, which was 
distinguished by a sign. The articles consisted of gold, sil- 
ver, jewels, feathers, mantles, chocolate, skins dressed and 
undressed, sandals, and great numbers of male and female 
slaves, some of whom were fastened by the neck, in collars, to 
long poles. The meat market was stocked with fowls, game, 
and dogs, Vegetables, fruits, articles of food ready dressed, 
salt, bread, honey, and sweet pastry made in various ways, were 
also sold here. Other places in the square were appointed to 
the sale of earthen ware, wooden household furniture such as 
tables and benches, firewood, paper, sweet canes filled with to- 
bacco mixed with liquidambar, copper axes and working tools, 
and wooden vessels highly painted. Numbers of women sold 
fish and little loaves made of a certain mud which they find in 
the lakes, and which resembles cheese. The makers of stone 
blades were busily employed shaping them out of the rough 



328 



TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 



material, and the merchants who dealt in gold had the metal in 
grains as it came from the mines, in transparent quills, and the 
gold was valued at so many mantles or so many xiquipils of 
cocoa according to the size of the quills. The entire square was 
enclosed in piazzas, under which great quantities of grain were 
stored, and where were also shops for various kinds of goods." 
Behind the Palace, south of the long pile 
of buildings occupied by the President of 
Mexico and his troops, is now the principal 
market of the city. It is enclosed by high 
stone walls, and there are entrances through 
four gates leading from as many streets. 




As in the time o 
Bernal Diaz, the 
outer portion of this 
enclosed square is 
occupied by shops 
and projecting piaz- 
zas, beneath which 
are exposed for sale 
the different prod- 
ucts and manufac- 
tures of Mexico ; 

and the central portion is occupied by natives, squatted beneath 
the shade of squares of matting stretched over frameworks, and 
each square supported by a single pole, like a rude umbrella. 
Slaves, and gold, and precious jewels, and feather-work, are no 
longer sold in the market ; for the articles vended here are con- 
fined, within the range of those desired for the table and fr 



SCENE IN THE MARKET. 



THE MARKETS AND FLOATING GARDENS. 



329 



household use. But what a variety ! It reminds one of what he 
has noticed in coming up to this high table-land of Mexico from 
the coast, namely, that 
this country can boast 
of almost every climate, 
every variety of scenery, 
and the products of ev- 
ery zone, from arctic to 
torrid. 

Several zinc roofs, 
supported upon stone 
pillars, give shelter to 
crowded stalls and cover 
every kind of merchan- 
dise, from a squash- 
seed to a wooden spoon. 
The entire enclosure is 
densely packed with hu- 
man beings, especially in 
the morning, when the 
purchases are mostly 
made. The men and 
women that do business 
here bring their entire 
families with them, and 
for the day live here as 
at home. The markets 
are divided into the vari- 
ous portions devoted to 
fruit, vegetables, and ar- 
ticles for household use. 
Upon mats spread on 
the stone pavement each 
vender spreads his or 

her stock in trade, regardless of the space necessary to the 
customer in threading his way through this miscellaneous as- 
semblage. 




HIS OWN HANDIWORK. 



330 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

In going through this market one Sunday morning, I jotted 
down the different varieties of fruits and vegetables, as I saw 
them, on the margin of a newspaper: and here is the list, tran- 
scribed as it ran there. First, after passing the dealers in fried 
meats, who are constantly dishing out scraps of pork and 
shreds of beef sizzling in fat to dirty leperos in sombreros and 
sarapes, stationed at the gate, you encounter the fruit stalls 
and vegetable stands. There are limes, fragrant as any grown 
in West Indian gardens, but without their plumpness and flavor; 
they perfume the air in the immediate vicinity, notwithstanding 
the sewage odors and the flaunting of vile garments that smell 
to heaven ; close by are pears, — here are two zones brought 
close together, — but these pears are not equal to those of 
northern climates ; cherries peculiar to the country, shad- 
docks, mangos, bananas, plantains, oranges, — all from the 
tierras calientes, or hot lands, whence also come the coco-nuts 
and pine-apples that lie in heaps on the pavement; these last 
are very dear, approaching prices asked in New York, owing to 
the great expense of transportation over two hundred miles of 
railroad; babies — not from the tierras calientes — who keep 
decidedly cool and comfortable, whether lying kicking on their 
mother's mats or peering from the rebozos in which they are 
confined to their mothers' backs; melons, peaches, wooden 
bowls, buckets, mats, babies; poultry, fish, babies; lettuce, 
babies, crockery, tomatoes, peppers, babies, beans, radishes, 
potatoes, babies without a rag on them; onions, leeks, cab- 
bages, corn, babies with nothing on them but rags; peas, car- 
rots, beets, squashes, artichokes, babies lean and emaciated ; 
birds, children, pumpkin-seeds, babies fat as a post-office con- 
tract; Indians, with great coops of chickens on their backs, 
leading babies by the hand; donkeys, with great panniers of 
vegetables or charcoal, with babies as crowning curiosities ; 
crockery venders with huge crates of earthen jars and pots. 
In fact, there are here the products of every zone and clime, 
and all the productions of mother earth. 

It is with pleasure that one turns from this heterogeneous as- 
semblage of the natural and artificial products of Mexico, — from 



THE MARKETS AND FLOATING GARDENS. 331 

the place whence his landlady draws the crude material for the 
nourishment of his inner man, — to a little iron-roofed struc- 
ture in the Plaza. There are many plazas in Mexico, but only 
one Plaza Mayor, overlooked by the great cathedral, and con- 
taining the Zocalo, or promenade of the upper classes. On the 
western side of the square is the flower market, surrounded by 
an atmosphere of delightful fragrance. 

The love of flowers is a redeeming trait in the character of the 
Aztec of to-day. It has survived the oppressions of three hun- 
dred years, and the exactions of two centuries of Spanish task- 
masters. The priests, in their anxiety for converts, allowed the 
Indians to retain many of their old forms of worship, the least 
objectionable one of which was the expression of their adoration 
through the medium of flowers. Barbaric dances, glitter, and 
display are necessarily a part of their worship, not all of which 
were derived from their ancient religion. It is said that, long 
after the overthrow of their gods, the Indians would visit by 
stealth their prostrate war-god, the terrible Huitzilopochtli, and 
surround him with garlands of flowers. Enter any church, 
cathedral, or chapel, and you will find flowers in profusion 
placed before the images of the Virgin. Not only this, but 
offerings of the first-fruits of their fields ; small clumps of 
golden wheat and barley, maize and clover. I might add, 
quoting Prescott, that among the Aztecs " the public taxes 
were often paid in agricultural produce," — which fact estab- 
lishes a precedent for the custom prevailing in our own country, 
of paying one's subscription to a country paper in vegetables 
instead of cash. 

But to return to the flower market. Inside it is full of men 
and women arranging flowers, great heaps of which cover the 
floor. Their innate taste for such work is exhibited in their 
delicacy of arrangement and delightful combinations of color, 
though the profusion of flowers induces them sometimes to 
consider quantity rather than quality. The cheapness of 
these beauties is wonderful : button-hole bouquets of violets or 
pansies, three cents, or even less ; one boy had bunches which 
he was offering for two cents, — " Tlaco, sefwr, tlaco ! " From 



332 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

curiosity, desiring to ascertain how many flowers composed one 
of the huge bouquets offered for sale, I bought one. The man 
asked four reales (fifty cents) ; I gave him two, and gave a boy 
three cents to carry it to my room. In the privacy of that 
apartment I dissected that bouquet, as an anatomist would take 
to pieces the human frame, to find out what composed it. There 
were thirty red roses, fifty white ones, twenty-eight violets, thirty 
heliotropes, twenty white rosebuds and thirty pink ones, the 
whole forming a solid pyramid of flowers, capped by three red 
roses, one metre twenty centimetres in circumference and twenty 
centimetres high. There were one hundred and ninety-one 
flowers, besides the trimming of leaves at the base and an orna- 
mented holder of fancifully cut paper. I leave to my readers 
to calculate what this would cost in New York, at the time I 
bought it, on the 8th day of May; but for those hundred and 
ninety-one flowers I paid only the sum of twenty-five cents ! 

Flowers bloom here all the year round, one crop following 
and intermingling with the other ; but, as in the North, May and 
June are the months for roses. From the high plains of Tlas- 
cala to the border of the sea may be traced the blossoming of 
the beautiful that pervades all nature, whether the country be 
traversed in January or June, in August or December. 

One wonders, as he sees the vast floral display, whence all 
these flowers are obtained, and it is only by seeking the out- 
skirts of the city and the canal of Chalco that he will be grati- 
fied. Taking the horse-cars at the Plaza for the paseo of La 
Viga, one reaches a bridge spanning a canal, one of the few 
water-ways that yet exist in this city. The famous " floating 
gardens " are always just beyond the eye, floating a little farther 
on ; if one is at the Viga bridge, they are down the canal at 
Santa Anita ; at the latter place, they are at Xochimilco ; and 
there one will hear of them as at Lake Chalco. But there are 
" floating gardens " near the canal, only they do not float, never 
did float, and never will float. One arrives at La Viga, and is at 
once pounced upon by a set of gondoliers almost as ravenous 
as Hell Gate pilots. They surround one and call his attention 
to their gondolas, said gondolas being what people of the North 



THE MARKETS AND FLOATING GARDENS. 



33; 



would call mud-scows. Into one of these picturesque arks some 
of the boatmen succeed in dragging the explorer, and, after 
waiting half an hour till they have secured a load, and the 
benches are alive with Indians and fleas, they push off from the 
bank, worming their way amongst a hundred other mud-scows, 
and the voyager finds himself afloat upon the waters of the 
" raging canal." Then he gives himself up 
to the enjoyment of the hour, revelling in 
pictures of the " Venice of the Western 
world," 1 — fancying the Mexicans in their 
disguise of dirt, — dirt, the war-paint of the 




CANAL OF LA VIGA. 

true Venetian, — as they swiftly pass in their light canoes 
(shaped like a bread-trough), — fancying, I say, that they are 
the noble Aztecs, — as, take them for what their remote ma- 
ternal ancestors may have been, they certainly are. Thus the 
gondola glides gently over the waves, the passenger indulges in 

1 Prescott did not originate this phrase; we find it in Clavigero (18th century), 
and in others: "The situation of this city is much like that of Venice." — Th. 
Gage, 1626. 



334 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

day-dreams of Venice, and that sort of thing, until all at once 
he finds that the canoe has ceased gliding, and he looks out and 
sees his degenerate gondoliers engaged in a struggle to the 
death with a mud-bank, and stirring up with their setting-poles 
— for the true gondolier in the American Venice does not pad- 
dle, but poles — such an accumulation of unutterable odors, 
that his very hair stands on end with surprise. Then the gon- 
dola is pushed away from the mud-bank and glides some more ; 
and all the while other boats are passing and repassing, and 
making it lively and wholesome on that canal. 

To a man with strong nerves, if he can survive an hour with- 
out drawing a full breath, this boating on the canal is a pro- 
tracted delight. Aside from the picturesque crowd on the 
banks, there are boats crowded with Indians indulging in native 
dances and playing native airs on guitars and rude instruments. 
A party of them will charter a flat-boat and convert it into a 
miniature ball-room, while the lookers on along the banks, and 
even the boatmen, will dance to the music as they run along the 
boat with their setting-poles. 

Down near the end of the paseo is a bust of Guatemotzin, 
the unhappy Emperor of the Aztecs for a brief period, — long 
enough, however, to witness the destruction of his nation. 
Repenting that their ancestors should have caused him the 
trouble they did, that they should have murdered millions of 
his subjects, that they should have burned his feet to a crisp 
for nothing, that Cortes should have finally hanged him in the 
wilds of Yucatan, the descendants of the conquerors have made 
all amends in their power by putting Guatemotzin on a perpet- 
ual bust. He looks out over the eastern plains, toward the 
rising sun, whence came the Spanish demons that made a hell 
of his paradise. 

Still the gondola glides over the green waters of the canal, 
between green banks lined with trees, beneath a rude and 
r.rched bridge of stone, over more water and amongst swarms 
of boats, to Santa Anita. Here one disembarks, and passing 
through a miserable mud village takes another canoe, and is 
poled among the " floating gardens." 



THE MARKETS AND FLOATING GARDENS. 



335 



And what are they? Why, they are beds of earth, of greater 
or less extent, and of varying height, with ditches cut through 
them ; they are gay with flowers, fringed with trees, and as 
neatly kept as the best kitchen garden in New York. It is 
true that the gardener floats among them in his canoe while he 
gathers his vegetables and loads his boat with them, and then 
carries them to market. But the gardens are solid ; they may 
shake a bit if one jumps on them, because they are boggy, 
even as a cranberry bed is, or a section of meadow land. But 



M 




FROM THE FLOATING GARDENS. 



they are gay with flowers, and here it is that many of those 
exposed in the market are raised. 

So many have denied the existence of the ancient chinam- 
pas, or veritable floating gardens, that I would extend our trip 
yet farther down the canal, and into the two great fresh-water 
lakes, Xochimilco — the flowering field — and Chalco, where we 
shall in very truth encounter them. I have described the chi- 
nampas that, though perhaps once vagrant, are now fixed in 
position and doing duty as kitchen gardens. To one who 
has read the history of the Aztec irruption into the Mexican 



336 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

valley, of their wanderings on the lake borders for years, the 
shifts they were put to to obtain even the vilest food, as they 
were driven away from solid and fertile soil by other tribes, it 
does not seem improbable that their necessities should have 
driven them to avail themselves of the floating islands of bul- 
rush and reeds set adrift by the storms of the rainy season. 

The canal leading from Mexico into the lakes was formerly 
the great route for all the native trade from. Cuernavaca and the 
south by the way of Chalco, and in the towns of Xochimilco 
and Mexicalcingo we find now Aztecs of purest blood, speaking 
their own unadulterated language. The lakes are filled with 
marsh, and are not open, but traversed by countless water-ways 
called acalotes, or canals. The floating gardens are cut from 
this vast mat of vegetation, called the cinta, which is composed 
of a multitude of water plants, as the tula, or bulrush, liliums, 
water ranunculuses, polygonums, etc., — over twenty species in 
number, — and which is said to have no attachment to the bot- 
tom of the lake. A body of the cinta, in shape a parallelogram, 
is cut out by the Indians, and the mud dredged up from the 
lake bottom poured over it until a deep deposit is formed of 
the richest soil in the world. This is constantly renewed, as 
the garden sinks deeper and deeper, until finally perhaps it 
finds a resting-place, and becomes immovable. But when 
freshly made it undoubtedly floats, and may even be dragged 
from its original position, in order that the Indian gardener may 
have free access to all sides of it in his canoe. In time of 
storms, the navigation of these lakes is rendered dangerous by 
detached masses of the cinta, called bandolei'os , which some- 
times float into the canals, cutting off all communication, and 
imprisoning the boatmen within walls that cannot be scaled or 
penetrated. 

Between the ridges that separate Chalco and Xochimilco 
from the salt Tezcoco (see Frontispiece) is pointed out to-day 
that hill celebrated in Aztec history, La Estrella, or the Hill 
of the Star. It was to this point that the Aztecs, at the mem- 
orable period known as the termination of their cycle, wended 
their way in long processions, headed by the priests, and built 



THE MARKETS AND FLOATING GARDENS. 



337 



on its summit the new fire. Here the wretched victim of 
their superstition was slain, and hence was carried the flame 
that was to rekindle their extinguished fires, and carry light 
and joy throughout the kingdoms of Anahuac. 




HILL OF LA ESTRELLA. 



In the centre of the largest lake, Chalco, lies a small, though 
interesting island, connected by a causeway with the mainland. 
This is Tlahuac, visited by Cortes and his soldiers on their way 
to Mexico in 15 19, and described by the historian of the expe- 
dition. Beneath the water of the lake, it is affirmed by recent 
travellers, lie the buildings of the ancient' city. Opposite this 
island is Xico, likewise an ancient Indian town, and at the 
base of an extinct volcano, the crater of which is planted with 
corn. 



338 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

At the extremity of Lake Chalco lies a most attractive town 
surrounded by a perfect halo of history. Chalco, the former 
residence of powerful native kings, is built upon a plain, and 
saw its best days many years ago, if we may judge by the 
ruinous state of the houses, with battered mud walls and going 
to decay. A fine old church, containing interesting paintings 
and statuary, is sharing the general ruin. There is no hotel 
in the village, and the market-place is almost always desolate. 
This town once stood on the borders of the great lake of 
Chalco, the body of fresh water that poured a volume into 
Lake Tezcoco, through the lake and canal of Xochimilco. But 
now the lake is miles away, and only reached by canals cut 
through the sea of marshes. The inhabitants of the place have 
commerce with Mexico by canoes, and carry there fruits and 
flowers, though it is a day's journey distant. Fields of pulque, 
gardens, and trees surround Chalco on three sides, and in front 
is the marsh. 

3 Long before the arrival of the Spaniards was Chalco cele- 
brated in Mexican history. Her cacique, or lord, was once an 
independent ruler, like those of Tezcoco and Mexico, but in 
the early part of the fifteenth century he arrogantly slew two 
royal princes of Tezcoco, and brought down upon himself and 
his people the vengeance of the three kings, of Mexico, Tez- 
coco, and Tlacopan. He richly merited, it seems, the punish- 
ment they dealt out to him, as he not only refused his royal 
victims burial, but caused their bodies to be cured and dried 
and placed in the principal room of his palace as torch-bearers. 
The united kings sacked the city, killed the cacique, and the 
people were added to the subjects of the Mexican crown. 
Some years later they provoked another invasion, when their 
city was destroyed and the inhabitants driven to the hills, where 
they lived for many years in caves ; — and perhaps these cave- 
dwellers of the same sierras may be their descendants. From 
the summits of the hills about us flashed the fires built by 
Montezuma to warn them of the war of extermination that he 
was about to wage upon them. But it was not many years later 
that these Chalchese had their revenge, when they assisted at 



THE MARKETS AND FLOATING GARDENS. 



339 



the destruction of the stronghold of their hated enemies ; for 
they were among the first of the Indians to ally themselves 
with the conqnistadores after Cortes had established himself in 
Tezcoco and sat down to the investment of the capital city. 

The best fishing on the lakes is near the town of Ayotla 
(reached over the Morelos Railroad), where the poor people 
subsist almost entirely upon the products of the water and 
marshes. It is an inherited taste, this depraved one of the 
present Aztecs, — a relic of those times when they wandered as 
vagrants on the lake margins, when they ate frogs, tadpoles, 
salamanders, the pith of the bulrush, and a thousand things un- 
heard of among us. There is no more peculiar product of the 
Mexican lakes than that marsh fly called axayacatl {Ahuatlea 
Mexicana) , which deposits its eggs in incredible quantities upon 
flags and rushes, and which are eagerly sought out and made 
into cakes which are sold in the markets. Says that festive 
monk, Thomas Gage, who visited Mexico in 1625, "The Indians 
gathered much of this and kept it in Heaps, and made thereof 
Cakes, like unto Brickbats, .... and they did eat this Meal with 
as good a Stomach as we eat Cheese ; yea, and they hold opin- 
ion that this Scum or fatness of the water is the cause that such 
great number of Fowl cometh to the Lake, which in the winter 
season is infinite." 

These cakes " like unto brickbats " are sold in the markets 
to this day, and the black heaps of the ahuauhtli, or " water- 
wheat," may be frequently seen dotting the mud fiats about 
the lakes, Tezcoco especially. The insects themselves (which 
are about the size of a house-fly) are pounded into a paste, 
— as they are collected in myriads, — boiled in corn husks, 
and thus sold. The eggs, resembling fine fish roe, are com- 
pressed into a paste, mixed with eggs of fowls, and form a staple 
article of food particularly called for during Lent. 

The Indians of the Mexican lakes have a systematic method, 
by which they plant bundles of reeds a few feet apart, with 
their tops sticking out of the water. The insects deposit their 
eggs upon these reeds in such quantities that they not only 
cover them, but depend in clusters. When completely covered. 



340 



TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 




these bundles are removed from the water, shaken over a sheet, 
and replaced for a fresh deposit. Paxi are the larvse of the 
axayacatl, yellowish-white worms, which are also eaten, being 
prepared for the table in various ways. Axayacatl, by the way, 
signifies "water-face," and is the symbol and name of the sixth 
king of Mexico, who entered upon his reign about the year 
1464, and continued in power thirteen years. 

There is one more denizen of these waters which we should 
not pass by without a reference. Though there are no fish in 

the great salt lake, Tez- 
coco, a compensation for 
their absence is obtained 
by the presence there of 
a most remarkable reptile, 
the axolotl (Siredon liche- 
noides). It is a water lizard, 
a batrachian of the " am- 
blystoma type of salamah- 
AXOLOTX. ders," resembling a fish in 

shape but with four legs 
with webbed feet, and a long, compressed tail. The gills form 
three feather-like processes on either side the neck, and the 
tongue is broad and cartilaginous. In color it is of a mixed 
black and white, and is about ten inches in length. 

This most hideous protean is eaten by the Indians of Mexico, 
as its flesh is white and resembles that of an eel, and is quite 
savory and wholesome. Its Aztec name, axolotl, is pronounced 
dh-ho-lotl, and is to-day called ajolote} 

It is by a devious path that we have reached the next subject 
of which I would write ; but as it was one of the favorite bev- 
erages of the most ancient Aztecs, and valued by them even 
above the toothsome axolotl, I am constrained in this connec- 
tion to describe the Mexican national drink, pulque, and the 
maguey of the great plateaux. 

From the earliest times, the inhabitants of earth have pre- 

1 In the "Smithsonian Report" for 1877 is a paper on the "Change of the Mex- 
ican Axolotl to an Amblystoma," — a valuable contribution. 



THE MARKETS AND FLOATING GARDENS. 341 

pared stimulating and refreshing drinks from various plants, 
seeds, and fruits. This beverage, pulque, has been so long in 
use on the Mexican table-land that its origin is involved in the 
obscurity of fable. It cannot be told when it was first drank, 
nor whence it derived its present appellation. The Aztecs gave 
it the name of neutli and octli, while the plant itself, the maguey, 
was called metl. One interpreter of the Mexican hieroglyphics 
asserts that the god Izquitecatl first extracted the life-giving 
juice of the maguey, while the Toltec annals, as usually inter- 
preted, ascribe its discovery to a prince of the royal blood of 
that line. A pretty fable is related of its discovery in connec- 
tion with their somewhat mythical chronicles. A noble Toltec, 
named Papantzin, found out the method of extracting the juice 
from the maguey, and sent some of it to his sovereign, Tecpan- 
caltzin, as a present, by his daughter, the beautiful Xochitl, the 
flower of Tollan. Enamored alike of the drink and the maiden, 
the king, wishing to monopolize both, retained the lovely Xo- 
chitl a willing prisoner, and in after years placed their illegiti- 
mate son upon the throne. This was the beginning of the 
troubles of the Toltecs, who had then enjoyed peace for many 
years, in about the year 1000; it led to their eventual disper- 
sion and extinction, brought about by the hand of woman, and 
through the means of drink. Through -all his disasters, how- 
ever, the Indian clung to his pulque, each generation adding to 
the acres of maguey planted by its ancestors, and at the present 
time its consumption has reached enormous proportions. 

The maguey, from which the pulque is produced, though 
native to Mexico, is found growing in our own country, yet not 
in any great abundance. But on the great Mexican uplands — 
those high plains that stretch from mountain to mountain at an 
elevation of more than seven thousand feet above the sea — is 
the dwelling-place of the maguey. You see it first in abundance 
when about one hundred miles from the valley of Mexico, on 
the plains of Apam. When the Spaniards first came here, in 
1 5 19, the native Mexicans had the maguey, of which they made 
almost as many uses as the South-Sea Islander does of the coco- 
palm, namely, a hundred. 



342 



TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 



It is said that there are thirty-three species of this plant grow- 
ing on these broad plains. 1 The best plants yield liquor for six 
months after being tapped. From the leaves, root, and juice 
are obtained a greater variety of products than one would think 
it possible for one plant to yield. First, paper is made from 
the pulp of the leaves, and twine and thread from their fibres. 
The rare and valuable Mexican manuscripts were composed of 

paper made from the maguey, 
which resembled more the pa- 
pyrus than anything else. 

Another use of this plant is in 
furnishing needles. The leaves 
are tipped with sharp thorns, 
and by breaking off the thorn 
and stripping the fibres at- 
tached to it away from the 
pulp, and then rolling and 
twisting them together, the na- 
tive has a serviceable needle 
ready threaded. The poor peo- 
ple thatch their houses with the 
leaves, placing one over the 
other, like shingles; the hol- 
lowed leaf also serves as a gut- 
ter, or trough, by which the 
water falling from the eaves is 
conducted away. The fibrous 
parts of the maguey supply 
the country with pita, or strong thread, which is made up into 
ropes, and is in universal use. It is not so pliable as hemp, and 

1 The celebrated Mexican naturalist, Sefior Ignacio Blazquez, Professor of Nat- 
ural History in the State College, Puebla, enumerates {Revista Cientifica Mexicana, 
Tom. I. Num. I., December, 1879) more than the above number. All these 
varieties have native Indian names in Aztec, and many in Otomi. Although most 
of them are used merely for hedge plants and surrounding enclosures, yet the ma- 
jority of them will produce pulque, and the various beverages obtained from the 
maguey. Twenty-two are enumerated which yield aguamiel, or honey-water, and 
of this number six produce the finest liquor, or pulque fino. 




THE MAGUEY. 



THE MARKETS AND FLOATING GARDENS- 343 

is more likely to be affected by the weather, but is strong and 
durable. 

The Greek word agave signifies " noble," and the plant well 
merits the name, both for its majesty and beauty, and for its 
manifold aids to man. Nothing on these plains is so imposing 
in appearance as the maguey. 

Its leaves are sometimes ten feet in length, a foot in breadth, 
and eight inches thick. From the centre of these great leaves, 
after collecting its strength for a number of years, it sends up a 
giant flower-stalk, twenty or thirty feet high, upon which is clus- 
tered a mass of greenish yellow flowers, sometimes more than 
three thousand in number. After this supreme effort, the ex- 
hausted plant dies ; it has performed the service to nature for 
which it was created. From the fact that the aloes in the North 
takes a great many years to gather strength for sending up this 
great central shaft, has arisen the story that it blossoms but 
once in a hundred years, and it has derived the name of the 
Century Plant. 

" In the maguey estates," says an observant writer, " the 
plants are arranged in lines, with an interval of three yards 
between them. If the soil be good, they require no attention 
on the part of the proprietor until the period of flowering ar- 
rives, at which time the plant commences to be productive. 
This period is very uncertain ; ten years, however, may be 
taken as the average, for in a plantation of one thousand aloes 
it is calculated that one hundred are in flowering every year. 

" The Indians know, by infallible signs, almost the very hour 
at which the stem, or central shoot, destined to produce the 
flower, is about to appear, and they anticipate it by making 
an incision and extracting the whole heart, or central portion 
of the stem, as a surgeon would take an arm out of the socket, 
leaving nothing but the thick outside rind, thus forming a natural 
basin or well about two feet in depth and one and a half in 
diameter. Into this the sap, which nature intended for the sup- 
port of the gigantic central shoot, continually oozes in such 
quantities that it is found necessary to remove it twice, and 
even three times, during the day. In order to facilitate this 



344 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

operation, the leaves on one side are cut off, so as to admit a 
free approach. An Indian then inserts a long gourd (called 
acojote), the thinner end of which is terminated by a horn, while 
at the opposite extremity a square hole is left, to which he ap- 
plies his lips, and extracts the sap by suction. This sap, before 
it ferments, is called aguamiel (honey-water), and merits the 
appellation, as it is extremely sweet, and does not possess that 
disagreeable smell which is afterwards so offensive. A small 
portion of this aguamiel is. transferred from the plant to a build- 
ing prepared for the purpose, where it is allowed to ferment for 
ten or fifteen days, when it becomes what is termed madre pulque 
(the mother of pulque), which is distributed in very small quan- 
tities amongst the different skins or troughs intended for the re- 
ception of the aguamiel. Upon this it acts as a sort of leaven, 
fermentation is excited instantly, and in twenty-four hours it be- 
comes pulque, in the very best state for drinking. The quantity 
drawn off each day is replaced by a fresh supply of aguamiel, 
so that the process may continue during the whole year with- 
out interruption, and is limited only by the extent of the plan- 
tation. A good maguey yields from eight to fifteen cuartillos, 
or pints, of aguamiel in a day, the value of which may be taken 
at about one real, and this supply of sap continues during 
two, and often three months. The plant, when about to flower, 
is worth ten dollars to the farmer ; although, in the transfer 
of an estate, the maguey s de corte, or plants ready to cut, are 
seldom valued, one with another, at more than five dollars. But 
in this estimate an allowance is made for the failure of some, 
which is unavoidable, as the operation of cutting the heart of 
the plant, if performed either too soon or too late, is equally 
unsuccessful, and destroys the plant. 

" The cultivation of the maguey, where a market is at hand, 
has many advantages, as it is a plant which, though it succeeds 
best in a good soil, is not easily affected either by heat or cold, 
and requires little or no water. It is propagated, too, with 
great facility, for, although the mother plant withers away as 
soon as the sap is exhausted, it is replaced by a multitude of 
suckers from the old root. There is but one drawback on its 



THE MARKETS AND FLOATING GARDENS. 



345 



culture, and that is the period that must elapse before a new 
plantation can be rendered productive, and the uncertainty with 
regard to the time of flowering, which varies from eight to 
eighteen years ; but the maguey grounds, when once estab- 




EXTR ACTING AGUAMIEL. 



lished, are of great value, many producing a revenue of $10,000 
to $12,000 per annum." 

A long train departs every day from the stations on the plains 
of Apam, loaded exclusively with pulque, from the carriage of 
which the railroad derives a revenue of above $1,000 a day- 
From the hacienda the pulque is carried to the cities in barrels 
and sheep-skins, and there retailed. The shops are gaudily 



346 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

painted and decorated with flowers, but they can no more hide 
the nature of their contents than a gin palace or lager-beer 
saloon. Their vile odor betrays their presence, and about their 
doors, day and night, may be seen ragged and filthy men and 
boys, and even women, who drink this beverage until it pro- 
duces intoxication. Not content with thus perverting the sweet 
juice, they distil from the mild pulque a strong rum, called mes- 
cal, which quickly causes inebriety, and is responsible for much 
of the crime of Mexico. 

Pulque tastes something like stale buttermilk, and has an odor 
at times like that of putrid meat. It is wholesome, and many 
people drink it for the sake of their health, but the great ma- 
jority imbibe it solely for the sake of the pulque. The natives 
ascribe to pulque, says Mr. Ward, as many good qualities as 
whiskey is said to possess in Scotland. " They call it stomachic, 
a great promoter of digestion and sleep, and an excellent remedy 
in many diseases. It requires a knowledge of all these good 
qualities, however, to reconcile the stranger to that smell of sour 
milk or slightly tainted meat by which the young pulque-drinker 
is usually disgusted ; but if this can be surmounted, the liquor 
will be found both refreshing and wholesome, for its intoxicating 
qualities are very slight ; and, as it is always drunk in a state of 
fermentation, it possesses, even in the hottest weather, an agree- 
able coolness. It is found, too, where water is not to be obtained, 
and even the most fastidious, when travelling under a vertical sun, 
are then forced to admit its merits." 

It is only to be met with in perfection near the places where 
it is made ; for as it is conveyed to the great towns in hog-skins 
or sheep-skins, the disagreeable odor increases, and the fresh- 
ness of the liquor is lost. 

Aguamiel is a limpid liquor, golden in color, sometimes 
whitish and mucilaginous, according to the species of the 
maguey, with a bitter-sweet flavor and of an herbaceous odor, 
which is produced in an excavation made in the root-stalk of 
the maguey at the point where the floral peduncle begins to 
unfold; it froths when shaken, gives an abundant precipitate 
with sub-acetate of lead, and when filtered the resultant liquor 



THE MARKETS AND FLOATING GARDENS. 347 

is colorless. An analysis of aguamiel by the celebrated Bous- 
singault gave glucose, sugar, and water as the principal in- 
gredients. Like the vine, the maguey yields the best liquor, 
independent of the climate, in volcanic or siliceous soil. 

Pulque is the product of the fermentation of aguamiel, is an 
alcoholic, mucilaginous liquid, holding in suspension white 
corpuscles, which give it its color, and has an odor sui generis, 
a taste peculiarly its own, more or less sugary, depending upon 
its strength, and contains about six per cent of alcohol. 

An exhaustive scientific description of the product of the 
maguey is given by Senor Jose C. Segura, in the Revista Ci- 
eiitifica Mexicana (Tom. I. Num. 6), to which authority I am 
indebted for the foregoing facts. 

The Mexican's opinion of the national beverage is expressed 
in the following lines : — 

" Sabe que es pulque, — 
Licor divino ? 
Lo beben los angeles 
En vez de vino." 

Know ye not pulque, — 
That liquor divine ? 
Angels in heaven 
Prefer it to wine. 

To return to the city and the markets. They are scattered 
all over the city, preferring to crouch under the shadow of a 
church or cathedral, and are not confined to the sale of fruits 
and flowers, but contain everything else known to man. Prom- 
inent, on the road to the canal, is the meat market. One 
knows its vicinage by the troops of dogs that haunt it, and 
by the greasy and bloody men that stand around its doors. 
Through the streets he will see passing horses and mules, with 
peaked frameworks over their backs hung with hooks, upon 
which are quarters of beef; sometimes these are covered with 
a cloth, sometimes not. The sight causes a shudder to run 
through the frame of a stranger, whether the ugly hooks are 
bare or adorned with their ghastly burdens. Worse than this, 
brutes of men in leather jackets bear huge hampers of refuse 



348 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

and entrails, with blood dripping from them, and skulls with 
horns attached and glaring eyeballs protruding from livid 
sockets. 

One morning, in a walk in the suburbs, I discovered a milk 
factory, where there was no possible chance for adulteration. 
In a square containing a fountain was a small herd of cows ; 
about each cow was a crowd of serving-women ; and a man 
presided at the source of supply. A line was fastened to the 
cow's hind legs, binding her tail to them also, and then passed 
over her back to her horns, while triced up to her shoulders 
was a lusty calf. It was a beautiful arrangement; the cow could 
not kick nor wag her tail, and the calf could not frisk about, nor 
put his foot in the milk-pail, — for two reasons : first, because 
he was tied ; second, because there was not any pail. The man 
milked with one hand into a pint cup he held in the other, 
and which, as fast as it was filled, he emptied into the cups 
and pitchers of the waiting servants. And they were a clam- 
orous crowd, importuning him to fill their vessels and let 
them be gone. " Don Felipe, for the love of God give me 
a medio's worth of milk." " For the sake of the Virgin, a 
tlaco's worth," etc. 

Here, thought I, there is no chance for cheating; here is 
honesty and pure milk, without water and without chalk, and 
my heart warmed towards Don Felipe and the promiscuous 
crowd of maid-servants, squatted around him and his cow in the 
dirt. These people, thought I, are born of dirty, but honest 
parents. But my landlady told me that the servants conspire 
with the man with the cow, and put water in the pitcher, and 
then divide with the honest expresser of the lacteal fluid, who, 
by milking fast and furious, creates a froth in the pitcher, not 
so much desired by her as milk. But did ever landlady and 
maid-servant exist together without a feud? I choose to believe 
that there dwells somewhere on this wide earth an honest milk- 
man, and have implicit faith in Don Felipe and his cow. 



XVIII. 

THE GRAND PASEO, CHAPULTEPEC, EL DESIERTO, 
AND GUADALUPE. 

SEVENTEEN hundred yards from the Plaza Mayor, the 
great square of the city of Mexico, stands the bronze 
statue of Carlos IV., an equestrian figure, which the great Hum- 
boldt declared had but one superior, that of Marcus Aurelius. 
Behind him is the great Alameda, the beautiful forest garden of 
the city, with its fountains and flowers ; from every direction, 
various avenues lead in from the country, and are blended in the 
one artery leading to the city, — to the city's heart. One regal 
arm is extended westward, pointing to the hill and castle of 
Chapultepec, toward which from the base of the statue extends 
the grandest avenue in Mexico, — the Paseo de la Reforma. 

When Maximilian was in power here, and, conscious of the ill- 
chosen site of the city, desired to remove it to a better, he chose 
the wisest course a wise ruler could have done. Commencing 
near the Alameda, he caused to be constructed the avenues that 
radiate in different directions from the statue of Carlos IV. Of 
these, the Paseo de la Reforma was the principal one, for it was 
to lead to Chapultepec, his favorite resort, and it was to be the 
centre of the new city of Mexico, being on the highest land 
about the present city. The length of this magnificent prome- 
nade and drive, from the bronze statue to the castle and park of 
Chapultepec, is 3,750 yards, which, added to that of the street 
leading to it from the Plaza Mayor, gives 5,450 yards, with a 
width, including sidewalks, of 170 feet. In its entire length it 
contains six circular spaces, 400 feet in diameter, for the erection 
of monuments to eminent men. The first already holds a beauti- 
ful composition in marble and bronze, representing Columbus and 



350 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

his discoveries, the figures being of heroic size. In the second 
space the foundation is laid for a statue of Guatemotzin, the last 
Aztec Emperor, and in the third it is proposed to place that 
of Cortis, his conqueror and persecutor. There is said to be no 
statue or enduring effigy of Cortes in the republic, such has 
been the intense bitterness of the people toward the conquer- 
ors of Mexico. That they accept a proposition to erect one to 
his memory is a proof that they are becoming civilized, and are 
willing no longer to endure the reproach of Humboldt, that 
" we nowhere in the Spanish colonies meet with a national 
monument erected by the public gratitude to the glory of 
Christopher Columbus and Hernan Cortes." The three re- 
maining circles are not yet spoken for, but they will be occu- 
pied by the marbles or bronzes of men famous in Mexican 
history. Carved seats of stone surround the semicircles about 
the statues, and long rows of trees, composed of eucalyptus 
and ash planted alternately, line the sidewalks. 

This avenue, then, with its broad macadamized road-bed, its 
shaded walks, and its beautiful statuary, driven straight across 
the emerald fields of the valley, is the chosen resort of the 
wealth and fashion of Mexico. It is the only place, in fact, to 
which they can repair for a drive since the Avenue de Bucarelli, 
running almost parallel, is no longer fashionable ; fortunately, 
they need no other. The centre of the drive is for equestrians, 
while the carriages roll along the sides, up one side and down 
the other. On Sundays and holidays the " Grand Paseo " is in 
its glory, though a great crowd frequents it every afternoon of 
the week ; mounted policemen are stationed at every one hun- 
dred yards ; gayly caparisoned horsemen gallop swiftly past, in 
broad sombreros, embroidered jackets, leggings decorated with 
silver braid and buttons, and massive spurs of silver. A more 
picturesque panorama than this cannot be seen in any other city 
in America. As the sun goes down behind the hills beyond 
Chapultepec, this assemblage turns toward the city, and the 
Paseo is left to the seclusion of the verdant pastures which 
environ it. 

What the citizen of the United States feels most in need of 






THE GRAND PASEO. 353 

when he arrives in Mexico is a place to go to, — some house, 
hotel, section of the city, or quarter where his fellow-countrymen 
most do congregate. He cannot find it here ; he wanders about 
like a cat on a strange roof, seeking a pleasant, home-like place, 
but finding it not. There is no hotel here that suits him ; not 
one even on the American plan. The Iturbide, because it is 
central, grand, and gloomy, has been most patronized ; but it 
does not meet the wants of its guests in a way our great hotels 
in the States would. There has been a constantly increasing 
need of a quarter where the stream of Americans could settle 
and form the nucleus of such winter homes as exist in Florida 
and the South. This has at last been found. It is on the out- 
skirts of the city, yet within its limits and within gunshot of its 
busy streets. 

The grand drive divides a level tract of land lying between 
the two great aqueducts that supply the city with water. One 
of these comes from a point leagues away among the hills, 
where the old convent of El Desierto is situated ; the other con- 
ducts the water from the sweet springs of Chapultepec. Both 
start into view from the base of this rocky hill to the westward, 
but diverge, one taking its course nearly due east, along that 
road down which dashed the American soldiers, in '47, as they 
stormed the San Cosme gate, the other trending more to the 
south, striking nearer the heart of the city. Between these 
ancient monuments of the past lies the most beautiful stretch 
of plain in the Mexican valley, smooth as a floor, covered with 
short sweet grass, low and flat, yet gradually rising to a level 
much above the city. 

It lies west of the city, the only land available for building 
sites till the distant hills are reached; its /drainage is perfect, 
through the city and into Lake Tezcoco. The reader of Mexi- 
can history will remember that, when Cortes had destroyed the 
Mexico of the Aztecs, it was proposed to build the new city 
either at Chapultepec or Tacubaya, at the border of the hills, 
but that the abundance of building material already at hand, 
from Indian temples and palaces, induced him to rebuild on the 
same spot. Ever since, the error has been apparent that the 

23 



354 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

site chosen was the worst in the valley, principally from the 
impossibility of effectual drainage. 

It is proposed to form here the nucleus for the American 
colony in Mexico, by building a hotel that shall compare with, 
or surpass, anything on the continent, and by dividing the land 
into lots of convenient size for building upon. The hotel is to 
be placed opposite the third glorieta, or the space destined for 
the statue of Cortes, — is to be built of indestructible material, 
and plans are invited from American architects. Ten thousand 
varas were given for the site of the hotel, which is to be 500 
feet front by 600 deep ; also all the stone, sand, and gravel 
necessary for its construction. Within half an hour, by steam, 
are the ancient quarries, whence the stone used in the building 
of the city was obtained. Here is that peculiar conglomerate 
called tepetate, which can be easily cut, like the shell rock of 
Florida and Bermuda, and of which half the city is built. This 
material is placed at the disposal of the builders of the hotel, 
and can be brought direct from the quarries to the proposed 
site, by the National road, which bounds the land on one side, 
and within a thousand yards are the stations of two other great 
railways, the Central and the Vera Cruz. All the street cars 
of the city rendezvous in the northeast quarter, while several 
lines reach the Paseo ; none disturb, however, the sanctity of 
this grand avenue. 

Nearly opposite the statue of Colon are extensive baths, with 
marble basins and an abundant flow of water, that would reflect 
credit upon any city. There are a score of artesian wells in the 
tract, from which streams of water gush the year through, rainy 
and dry season alike. Now the question arises, Why has not 
this valuable section been sooner taken possession of, and why 
has it not been built upon? It was, as I have said, part 01 
Maximilian's wise plan to gradually extend the city westward 
to this higher and more salubrious location, by inducing the 
wealthy Mexicans to build elegant residences there. Taking 
up the grand suggestion of the late Emperor, it remains for 
Americans to realize his dream. The insecurity of the suburbs 
of the city has been the greatest objection to building there, but 



THE GRAND PASEO. 



355 



that is now removed. Quick transit is now afforded to all parts 
of the city; while, keeping pace with the growth of the colony, 
the immense trunk lines of Mexico will bring passengers from 
the North, and land them at the very doors of their winter 
homes. At the entrance to the Paseo, a year ago, a great 
tower was begun, to be 175 feet in height and 25 feet square at 
the base, from the summit of which an electric light of 16,000 
candle capacity is to dart its rays over the city and its suburbs. 

Imagine a winter residence in this charming triangle, with an 
aqueduct three hundred years old in the back yard, and a view 
from the front of the loveliest valley and the grandest snow- 
capped volcanoes on the continent ! Try to imagine the perfect 
climate here, with its delicious nights, and warm, bright days. 
If the possessors of this royal domain act wisely, it will be pos- 
sible for many of our people to own here perfect gardens of 
delight, where they may reside in security and happiness. 

Terminating the vista down the avenue, rise the hill and castle 
of Chapultepec. Historic Chapultepec ! From the days when 
Montezuma wandered beneath its shades and built his palace 
here, to those of the head of the last dead empire, it has been 
the chosen resort of successive rulers of Mexico. A glorious 
grove of giant trees surrounds the hill, — grand old cypresses 
hung with masses of Spanish moss, like those of the cypress 
swamps of Florida. Beneath them are traced walks and ave- 
nues, which are crowded on Sunday afternoons and on feast 
days, and are seldom solitary any day in the year. Chapultepec, 
the Hill of the Grasshopper, has the only grove, and presents 
the nearest point for recreation, about the city, from which it 
is distant less than two miles. 

Though now used as an astronomical observatory, the castle 
retains much that Maximilian added for the purpose of making 
it a royal residence. The corridor was adorned with voluptuous 
paintings, after the style of a Pompeian villa, but these the prud- 
ish Mexicans have draped with a sort of sarape, willing to avail 
themselves of the genius of the artist, but greatly marring the 
beauty of his figures. The improvements the Emperor designed 
have never been finished, but it is hoped that the enlightened 



356 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

government now in power will carry them out. Whatever may 
be urged against Maximilian as a usurper, it must be admitted 
that he has embellished the capital more than any ruler since 
Cortes. His magnificent service of plate is in the Museum, and 
the costly furniture is widely scattered, but some tables are shown, 
some chandeliers, the rooms the royal couple occupied, and the 
plan, designed by his order, of the imperial park of Chapultepec. 
From the roof of the castle, as well as from the entire crest of the 
hill, a wide view is afforded of the beautiful city, enclosed be- 
tween its amethyst hills. Perhaps there does not exist in the 
wide world a lovelier vision than that spread before one from 
the castle of Chapultepec ; the historic- valley held in the hollow 
of the cordilleras and guarded by the snow-crested volcanoes far 
away to the southward, ■ — those 

"Mountains white with winter, looking downward, cold, serene, 
On their feet with spring vines tangled and lapped in softest green." 

" What," says the Princess Salm-Salm, " are the Central Park 
in New York, Regent's Park in London, the Bois de Boulogne in 
Paris, the Bieberich Park on the Rhine, the Prater in Vienna, — 
nay, even the pride of Berlin, the Thiergarten, — what are they 
all in comparison with this venerable and delightful spot?" 

The same bright and vivacious writer, who was in at the death 
of the empire, and performed daring deeds in defence of her 
hero, the Emperor, relates that the first night Maximilian and 
Carlotta occupied the castle, they were driven out of their rooms 
by mosquitoes, and pitched their beds on the open terrace. 

Down beneath the hill, to the right, as we face the valley, is 
that grand memento of days gone by, the cypress of Monte- 
zuma, el arbol de Monteziima. It is undoubtedly one of those 
beneath which the Aztec sovereign meditated in the intervals of 
his sacrifices. Says one female writer, " There has the last of 
the Aztec emperors wandered with his dark-eyed harem." We 
suppose she must mean Montezuma, for his successor died so 
soon after his elevation to the throne that he had little time 
to wander; and Guatemotzin, stern and watchful chieftain, had 
no leisure left him by the assaults of the Spaniards. But if we 
are to believe the chroniclers, Montezuma, though he had an 



CHAPULTEPEC. 



359 



extensive collection of wives, visited them only by stealth, and 

never took them walking with him. So we must dismiss this 

pleasant fiction of the harem ; but if the lady insists, then we 

must imagine that the grave and ever-occupied Montezuma 

always strutted about with his flock at his heels ; and every 

morning, like chanticleer, 

" His lusty greeting said, 
And forth his speckled harem led." 

Rising to a height of one hundred and seventy feet, and with 
a circumference of forty-six, this towering monarch of Chapul- 
tepec has sheltered many a royal head ere it attained its present 
dimensions ; but, with the blessing of God, it will never shelter 
another. Near this sombre cypress draped in its gray robe of 
Spanish moss, there gushes from the base of the hill that equally 
famous spring of cool, clear water known as " Montezuma's 
Bath." It was the former source of supply for the ancient Aztec 
city, and was conducted to the capital, as now, over a magnifi- 
cent aqueduct of nine hundred arches. There is an inscription 
carved in the stone walls of the basin, to the effect that this 
fountain was restored by the viceroy of Spain in the year 1 571 . 
The southern aqueduct marches straight upon the city and ter- 
minates there in a fountain of quaint design, near which is a 
tablet informing one that there are 904 arcos from the bridge of 
Chapultepec to the fountain ; that it is 4,663 varas long, was 
begun in 1677, and finished in 1779. This fountain is called the 
Salto del Agita, or Waterfall, and the water obtained here is 
known as agua delgada, thin or pure water, to distinguish it 
from that of the San Cosme aqueduct, which is agua gorda, 
or thick water. 1 Near the spring at Chapultepec is the great 
rock which is said to have had upon it a carving of Axayacatl 
and Montezuma, and which was destroyed by Cortes ; it is not 
entirely obliterated, however, as some incised lines yet remain. 

1 " Sweet water is brought by a conduit to Mexico from a place called Chapultepec, 
three miles distant from that city, which springeth out of a little hill, at the foot 
whereof stood formerly two statues or images, wrought in stone, with their Targets 
and Launces, the one of Montezuma, the other of Axaiaca, his father. The water is 
brought from thence to this day in two pipes built upon arches of brick and stone." — 
Thomas Gage, 1625. 



360 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

A monument here, a plain shaft, records the brave deeds of 
the Mexican cadets in their defence of the castle. Nowhere 
in the vicinity of the capital are grouped so many reminders of 
Mexico's glorious history; nowhere except in the Museum is 
there so much to attract one, or so much to absorb his attention 
after he is there. 

Back of the grove is Molino del Rey, the King's Mill, where the 
Americans lost so many men in capturing this key to the defences 
of the city. The great building is now used as a foundry for 
ordnance, and stands as on that memorable day in '47 in all its 
ugliness. On the hill above is a monument to the Mexican sol- 
diers who fell in the action, and from this point the eye takes in 
at a glance the entire situation, — Molino del Rey and Chapulte- 
pec, the fall of which determined that of the city. Down on the 
plains below are the sites of the battle-fields of Churubusco and 
Contreras, where obstinate fights occurred. 

Dolores, the cemetery of the aristocracy, lies behind these 
hills, surrounded with fields of pulque plants, and the pleasant 
resort of Tacubaya, with palatial mansions and beautiful gardens, 
occupies the slopes where the city of Mexico ought to have been 
built. A tramway leads direct from the city, past Chapultepec, 
to Tacubaya, and thence circles round to the lovely hamlet of 
San Angel, — formerly famous as a gambling centre, and even 
now worthy an extensive reputation in that respect, — where are 
annual feasts of flowers, resorted to by the population of 
Mexico. 

Secluded amongst gardens of fruits and flowers, except on 
feast and gambling days quiet as the grave, no one would sus- 
pect that San Angel was the resort of pestiferous robbers and 
cut-throats. Yet it is, and the pedregal, or stony lava plain, 
bordering the town, which is full of caves and fissures, is the 
hiding-place of numerous thieves and murderers. The shep- 
herds, half-naked Indians in ragged blankets, who watch over 
small flocks of goats and sheep, are the guardians of the villains 
who hide there, and are not over reputable themselves. 

" But more Northwestward, three Leagues from Mexico," says 
good Friar Gage, " is the pleasantest Place of all that are about 



' 



EL DESIERTO. 363 

Mexico, called La Soledad, and by others El Desierto, the soli- 
tary, or desert place and Wilderness. Were all like it, to live 
in a wilderness would be better than to live in a City." This 
wilderness, El Desierto, is situated some fifteen miles from the 
capital, on the road to Toluca. No railroad was finished to it 
at the time of my visit, and no regular stage line connects it 
with the city, and so any one then desiring to visit this aban- 
doned convent of the Carmelites had to do as a party of us, 
tourists and engineers, did, one pleasant day in June. We 
chartered a diligence capable of holding fifteen persons, and, 
leaving Mexico at six in the morning, climbed the hills that led 
away to this conventual paradise. Thirteen engineers, let loose 
from a week's confinement in the office, it may be needless to 
remark, disencumber themselves at once of whatever restraint 
office rules may have laid upon them, and if the people along 
the route of our road did not know that we were Americans, 
it was not altogether the fault of the engineers. Besides our- 
selves there were ten mules and an experienced driver, one who 
had driven between Mexico and Toluca for many a year. 

Leaving the valley, you say good by to all refreshing vegeta- 
tion except such as snuggles in secluded valleys or in the gardens 
of the villages. At the hamlet of Santa Fe, those of the party 
who were outside exclaimed to those who were inside that they 
ought to be on the roof, for the view was beautiful beyond their 
power of praise. And this was no exaggeration, as those of us 
who were so fortunate as to secure an outside seat going down 
confessed to ourselves on the way back. A picture alone can 
convey to my reader the exceeding beauty of this fair valley, 
with its hills, lakes, towns, cities, and mountains seen through the 
heavenly atmosphere that blesses this country; only Velasco's 
pictures could do this to perfection, and one must try to fill in 
the colors in imagination. 

The diligence portion of the route was a small matter, for 
after we had been safely carried to a miserable village called 
Caujimalpa, the driver assured us that there his obligation 
ended, and we must procure beasts of some sort for the remain- 
ing distance, about two miles. Now at this village there was a 



364 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

meson, or hostelry, where it was possible, our Jehu said, we might 
find some horses ; but some of the engineers who were sent 
into the stable-yard to ascertain returned with the discouraging 
information that there was not one. This set us all down in the 
mouth, but by diligent search we at last unearthed the keeper 
of the meson and worried him until he admitted that he had one 
horse ; but to every question regarding further supply, he re- 
turned the invariable Mexican answer, "No hay," — "There are 
none." Enclosing him in a double ring, the dozen of us elected 
a spokesman and questioned him regarding the resources of the 
place. 

"Will you give us a horse? " 

" No hay caballo, senor" 

"We want two mosos, also." 

" No hay" (pronounced no eye). 

" A muchacho, then, to guide us." 

" No hay, senor!' 

" Something to eat? " 

" No hay." 

" Some pulque to drink? " 

" No hay. 

"A house for shelter? " 

" No hay." 

" Tell us the road to the convent." 

" No hay." 

" Confound your picture, can you let us have any mules?" 

" No hay, senor" 

" A jackass, then, — give us donkeys." 

" Si, senor, hay burros" — " Yes, sir, I have jackasses." 

" Good for the Mexican ! " shouted an engineer, " he has no 
hay for horses, but has an eye for jackasses. Vamanos ! " 

"Trot out your donkeys, old man," said our leader; and 
he trotted them out, forthwith. 

Our exultation was of short duration, for there was not a 
beast in that collection of a score or more that had a whole 
hide on his back. The poor burros had been all the week em- 
ployed in freighting on the road, and this was their Sunday 



EL DESIERTO. 365 

rest. Indeed, it seemed inhuman to mount such dwarfed and 
blistered animals. Long years of servitude had worn the skin 
from their backbones, the pack-saddles had galled them until 
there were great spaces of raw and bloody flesh and running 
sores. They looked at us reproachfully as we got astride the 
pack-saddles, — for there were no others, — yet they offered no 
remonstrance in the shape of kicks or expostulatory brays. A 
silent and a saddened crowd, we wended our way up the hill, 
along the course of a swift-running stream that supplies the 
aqueduct that passes Chapultepec and San Cosme. 

Soon we entered the wood that renders El Desierto one of 
the most enchanting resorts within a day's ride of Mexico. 
Pine, hemlock, cedar, and oak clothed the hillsides and dark- 
ened the deep and delightful vales. They are the largest trees 
found in a body in the valley, always excepting the cypresses 
of Chapultepec. In fact, there are no others left, except in 
isolated specimens in the various villages. The air here was 
cool and sweet, and the wind sighed through the pines with 
a subdued murmur, as though too heavily laden with sweet- 
ness to break into a gale. We found the convent on a central 
hill, entirely hidden from the world outside, a pile of massive 
buildings, with domes and turrets, surrounded by their dormito- 
ries, and enclosed within a high stone wall. Dilapidation and 
decay were written all over them. How many years have 
passed since they were occupied by the pious monks, no one 
seems to know, but antiquity's veil is over the place, since 
the oldest of the buildings was raised early in the seventeenth 
century, — in its first decade. Friar Gage, who was here about 
1625, and whom the Abbe Clavigero calls a man of lies (though 
I believe he verily tells the truth), gives a caustic description of 
the lives of those holy monks who had mortified themselves 
by retreating to this wilderness. "It is wonderful to see the 
strange devices of fountains of water which are about the gar- 
dens, but much more strange and wonderful to see the resort 
of coaches and Gallants, and ladies and gentlemen, from Mexico, 
thither, to walk and make merry in those desert pleasures, and 
to see those hypocrites whom they look upon as living Saints, 



366 



TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 



and so think nothing too good for them to cherish them in 
their desert conflicts with Satan. None goes to them but car- 
ries some sweetmeats, or some other dainty dish to nourish them 
withal ; whose prayers they solicit, leaving them great alms of 
Money for their Masses, and above all offering to a picture in 
their Church, called Our Lady of Carmel, treasures of diamonds, 




DAYS THAT ARE GONE. 



pearls, golden chains and crowns, and gowns of cloth of gold 
and silver. Before this picture did hang in my time twenty 
lamps of silver; the best of them being worth a hundred 
pounds." 

This gives us a picture of El Desierto in its flourishing period, 
and the remains now about us fully sustain the belief that the 
whole valley was indeed a beautiful garden of fountains and fruits, 
where the monks secluded themselves in such delightful retreats 



EL DESIERTO. 



367 



that the fair ladies of Mexico were constrained to seek them 
out. All, alas! have departed, — fountains, flowers, monks, and 
stately dames and gallants. The ruins remain, and the forests, 
for the conservation of which latter, as tending to preserve the 
supply of water flowing to the city, the government has recently 
passed necessary laws. 

After groping through the subterranean passages, which 
wound beneath the principal buildings, and may have been 
used by the accursed Dominicans — who once inhabited here 
after the departure of the Carmelites — as places of torture or 
imprisonment for their religious victims, we entered the chapel. 
How changed in the lapse of two centuries and a half! Where 
hung that sacred picture of Our Lady of Carmel, and those 
silver lamps, are now but bare walls, defaced with many an in- 
scription and the smoke of vandal fires. Beneath the central 
dome, where the light sifts through and enlivens the gloom, is 
a brick furnace once used for the smelting of glass, fragments 
of which, and much wood for fuel, lie about on the broken pave- 
ment. There are passages in these walls in which one might 
easily lose himself, wells and cistern that may be the entrances 
to subterranean labyrinths, and cells and vaults that may once 
have heard many a groan. 

To find a stream in the hills of far-off Mexico that recalled 
a mountain torrent of New England, spanned by just such a 
bridge as artists love to draw across our foaming brooks, was 
something that drew us all into the valley after the fortunate dis- 
coverer. One touch of such a bit of nature made us all united 
at once upon this charming dell as the place to lunch in. The 
hampers were accordingly opened here, and each member of 
the party, provided with half a chicken and a bottle of ale, 
sat down contentedly to the feast. After the repast, the pho- 
tographer of the party secured — in the conventional language of 
his profession — the shadow of that bridge, ere the substance 
faded from our sight, and then we hastened to the convent and 
our donkeys. 

Though with a prospect before them of home and a stable, 
those donkeys of ours were loath to move in any direction. It 



368 



TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 



was then that American ingenuity triumphed over asinine per- 
versity, though not even Balaam had more trouble with his burro 
than we did with ours that day. The path down the hills was 
narrow, and when a rider was settled in his saddle he could not 
see the way ahead of him if the donkey carried his ears erect, 
while if he wore them at his side there was hardly room be- 
tween the opposite banks for the beast to pass. It was only by 
getting behind a donkey and pushing him that we could get him 




BRIDGE AT EL DESIERTO. 

into a run, and then, as it was down hill, we would jump on 
and ride before he had lost his impetus. This scheme was very 
successful until the beasts saw through it, when they stopped 
short as soon as we had done pushing, thereby transferring the 
impetus to ourselves, who were thrown over their heads, despite 
their ears, and received sundry bruises. But we did not cherish 
against them any resentful feelings, and delivered them to their 
owner little the worse for wear ; then we rode into the city at 



GUADALUPE. 



369 



dark, with every member of our party in good condition, — save 
where he had come in contact with a donkey. 

Crossing the valley eastward, we find at about the same dis- 
tance from the city as Chapultepec, two miles, the church and 
chapel of Our Lady of Guadalupe. A tramway leads out to it, 
over a causeway that is said to have existed when Cortes in- 
vaded the valley. At the foot of the hill of Tepeyacac is the 
sumptuous church built in honor of the Virgin of Guadalupe, 
with a small village clustered about it, and a series of stone steps 
leading up to the chapel on the hill. Here, in the year 1 53 1, if 
we may believe Mexican tradition, the most holy Virgin appeared 
to a poor Indian, Juan Diego by name, as he was on his way to 
early mass. After commanding him to direct the Bishop of 
Mexico (who was the noted Zumarraga) to build here a chapel 
in her honor, she filled his blanket with flowers, and disappeared. 
The wondering Indian did as directed, but when he cast at the 
Bishop's feet his burden of flowers, as they fell away from the 
blanket there was revealed an image of the Virgin herself! Rev- 
erently and with joy and wonder, the Bishop took the tilma, or 
blanket, and hung it up in -his oratory; and two years later it was 
hung above the high altar in the church built in commemoration 
of this event. The church was finished in 1533, and later the 
chapel, perched on the hill above, was built. These are not the 
only attractions to the shrine, for a celebrated chalybeate spring 
gushes forth from the base of the hill, which was caused by the 
pressure of the Virgin's foot in emphasis of her command to 
Juan Diego. On the side of the hill, half-way to the chapel, 
is a monument in stone and mortar to one man's devotion, in 
the shape of the mast and sails of a ship. Caught at sea in 
a storm, a sailor vowed he would build a stone ship to the glory 
of the Virgin, if allowed to escape to land. Once safe ashore, 
either his funds or his piety failed him, since he got no farther 
than the foremast. And there it stands to-day, the only stone 
effigy in existence perhaps, of a ship, or part of one, of so 
large a size. 

In the cemetery, near the chapel, are buried Santa Anna and 
several other noted Mexican worthies. A fine view of the city 

24 



370 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

of Mexico is obtained from the hill. In the church at its foot 
are many objects of curiosity, — the veritable painting of the 
Virgin on the tilma of the Indian, enshrined in a crystal case 
with golden border, a silver altar rail, numerous pictures tes- 
tifying to the efficacy of the waters of the spring in healing 
the sick, and cords of crutches, which proclaim that numerous 
cripples have been cured by visiting this most holy shrine. 

It will be noticed that the Virgin of Guadalupe is the first 
American saint in the calendar. Her appearance to Juan Diego 
was. most opportune, since the conversion of multitudes of In- 
dians to the Catholic faith immediately followed, as they trans- 
ferred their worship of their old images to this new one. It will 
be remembered that she had a rival in the Virgen de los Remedios, 
which was either brought by Cortes or his soldiers with him to 
Mexico, or manufactured soon after their arrival. This latter 
was a small wooden doll, ugly enough to frighten all the rats out 
of the valley of Mexico, yet dressed in rich petticoats of silk, 
adorned with pearls of great value. Her church is now par- 
tially in ruins, and the blessed relic — this wooden doll, found 
by a soldier in a maguey plant — was removed to the cathedral 
years ago. This was a matter of precaution, as she had so 
many rich jewels about her that it was feared some grace- 
less robber might be tempted to spirit her away from so 
lonely a place. 



XIX. 



POPOCATAPETL. 

" I could not, ever and anon, forbear 
To glance an upward look on two huge peaks, 
That from some other vale peered into this." 

I ^OUR snow-covered mountain peaks gleam in the sun in 
-*- Mexico, making it famous among the countries of the 
world. There are but two higher on the continent of North 
America, for the lowest of the four reaches sixteen thousand feet. 

First, nearest the Gulf of Mexico, is Orizaba, visible at sea 
before the coast of Mexico is discovered. This reaches an 
altitude of seventeen thousand three hundred feet, and is sec- 
ond only to the giant of all, Popocatapetl, whose hoary head is 
lifted up seventeen thousand eight hundred feet above the sea. 
Iztaccihuatl and the Volcan de Toluca next appear, each about 
sixteen thousand feet in height. 

Far above the wall of mountains that surrounds the valley of 
Mexico towers the mighty Popocatapetl, visible from the city of 
Mexico, and one of the most beautiful objects that grace that 
land of glorious scenery. It is the first to greet the traveller's 
eye and enchain his attention as he enters the Mexican valley, 
the first he later seeks in the morning, the last he loves to look 
upon at evening time. 

Though called an active volcano, it has emitted nothing but 
sulphur fumes, and perhaps a little smoke, within the memory 
of man. Yet it may be only resting, for the old historians 
affirm that it was active in the first years of the conquest, and 
its very name, Popocatapetl, signifies " the smoking mountain." 

Volcanoes take their rest like human beings, and we have only 



372 



TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 



to turn to the history of Vesuvius to confirm this. The forma- 
tion of the volcano of Jorullo in Mexico, in 1759, is another 
example, when from a fertile and highly cultivated plain were 
thrown up six hills of fire, the central one rising to a height of 
sixteen hundred feet. 




wz 



VOLCANO OF JORULLO. 



Until within a few years, the ascent of Popocatapetl was ren- 
dered more tedious and discouraging than at present by the 
long horseback ride of sixty miles necessary to be taken from 
Mexico as a preliminary to the actual climb up the mountain. 
At the present time this difficulty is obviated by the passing of 
a line of railroad near the actual base of the volcano, so that 
one can leave the city in the morning and reach the snow- 
line before night, ascending the summit and returning the next 
day. This railroad, the Morelos, leaves the city at the gate of 
San Lazaro, near where the main sewer flows with sluggish 
current towards Lake Tezcoco ; from the odors of which sewer, 
and from the congregations of filthy beggars that assemble at 
the arrival and departure of trains, one will understand why this 
suburb is named after Lazarus, king of mendicants. You may 
take a horse-car at the Plaza at seven in the morning, and the 



POPOCATAPETL. 



373 



train at seven and a half, and at eight will find yourself rapidly 
whirling over the salt plains that once formed the bed of the 
great lake. Passing through several pueblos, we reach Ameca- 
meca, the largest town on the line, and the place at which the 
ascent of the volcano commences, in about two hours. The 
distance from the gate of San Lazaro is fifty-eight kilometres, 
and the fare, first-class, one dollar. 

In the centre of the town is the Plaza, where a low circular wall 
of stone encloses a small plat planted with flowers, a round basin 
filled with water flowing from a fountain in the middle, and a 
few white stone pillars support a capital and form the entrance, 
above which, and shading the garden, droop dark green willows. 
The square surrounding this bit of verdure is large, bounded on 
its west side, next the railroad, by the Casa Municipal, and on 
the east by the cathedral, a large and well-preserved building. 
The streets of the town diverge from this centre, lined with 
low houses of stone and adobe, — mostly the latter, — roofed 
with rough shingles spiked on with long wooden pegs. Water 
from the mountains runs in little streams through the streets, 
and is diverted by small gutters to the houses for private use. 
Groups of pines rise above the houses, and all the trees are 
mainly of the northern zone. East of the town, and in fact all 
around, stretch immense fields of corn and barley, parted by 
hedges of maguey, and beyond them the foot-hills commence, 
with many a fertile tongue of land running up among them, 
green and golden with grain. Then they rise higher and higher, 
covered with black forests of pine, until the grand old mountains 
are fairly reached, which shake off their garments of trees, and 
tower above them all, brown and barren. Next comes the border 
of the snow-line, its white robe ragged and patched with brown 
on its skirts ; but finally, triumphing over all below, it drapes 
the peaked summit in a glistening garment of spotless white. 

Facing the east, Iztaccihuatl — la Mujer Blanca, "the White 
Woman" — lies above, and apparently nearer the town, than 
Popocatapetl. She covers a long portion of the ridge with her 
white shroud, and is really suggestive, by her shape, of a 
dead giantess, robed in white for her burial. Far and near, this 



374 



TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 



volcano is known as the " White Woman," and from the plains 
of Amecameca and from the city of Mexico the resemblance 
to a dead woman, lying on her bier and covered with a white 
sheet, is most suggestive. The neck is a trifle long, and the 
protuberance of the breasts carried a little too far down, giving 
an undue prominence to the abdomen ; but the dead face is 
perfect, and the hair streams in silvery locks from the snowy 
forehead back over the head and down the sides of the bier. 
Her feet are turned toward her companion giant, grim old 
Popocatapetl, and between the two lies a long, uneven ridge, 
mainly beneath the snow-line, brown, and for the most part 
treeless. Popocatapetl wears a solid crown of glittering snow, 



— • '- -2 



p* 






LA MUJER BLANCA. 

which appears jagged and sun-bitten at about the same level as 
La Mujer Blanca, where his diadem loses itself in little streams, 
that trickle down his giant shoulders. 

There is a tradition among the Indians that these two volca- 
noes were once living beings, in the early years of the world, 
in the shape of a giant and giantess. The Supreme Deity 
became offended at some acts of theirs, and changed them into 
mountains. He struck the giantess dead, and there she lies to 
this day, stretched silent upon her bier, robed in glistening white. 
The giant was merely rooted fast to the spot, where he could 
contemplate his loved companion ; and he was wont to express 
his indignation and grief by fiery floods of lava tears, and by 



POPOCATAPETL. 375 

pouring forth volumes of smoke. In his agony he would shake 
the whole earth with his tremblings. The affrighted Indians 
thus recognized him as Tlaloc, the " God of Storms," and Popo- 
catapetl, the " Hill that Smokes." 

When it was known among my friends in Mexico that I was 
going to attempt the ascent of Popocatapetl alone, they said I 
could not do it ; men high in authority warned me of the dangers 
attending such an effort. Giving heed to the warnings of my 
friends, I attired myself in my oldest clothes, donned a Mexican 
sarape and sombrero, girt myself about with a belt stuffed full 
of cartridges, containing a dirk and a revolver, and then set out 
for the station. The disguise was so complete that an ac- 
quaintance who met me in the Plaza was about to pass without 
a recognition. I stopped him, and then he apologized. 

" O, don't mention it," said I ; " but tell me, do you see 
about me any indications of wealth? " 

" No," he replied, " I 'm blessed if I do ! " 

Then I allowed him to pass on. At the station, the agent 
made me happy by handing out a third-class ticket at sight. I 
then knew that I appeared like a common Mexican, and that, 
unless I opened my mouth, no robber would attempt to murder 
me with the expectation of getting anything for his pains. 

In Mexico, I had been kindly furnished with a letter by Gen- 
eral Ochoa, who owns the crater of the volcano and procures 
sulphur from it, to his mayor-domo, Don Domingo Zela ; but Don 
Domingo was absent when I arrived in Amecameca, and I was 
thrown upon my own resources. Very fortunately, there met me, 
as I stepped from the cars, a volcanero, or volcano-man, one who 
had worked in the crater digging sulphur, who offered his ser- 
vices as a guide to the top. His face told me he was honest and 
tolerably faithful, and we closed a bargain at once, — he to fur- 
nish me his own services, three horses, and &peon, at five dollars 
a day. Having concluded these preliminaries, we went in search 
of the one man of Amecameca who spoke English. After much 
trouble, we finally drew up at the door of a little house where 
two pretty girls were sewing; and, upon learning that "papa" 
was out, but would be back soon, I accepted their invitation to 



376 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

enter. They spoke nothing but Spanish, but their father, who 
had lived in New Orleans thirty years before, spoke not only 
his native tongue, but French, English, and Mexican, or Indian. 
His English was, to be sure, a little the worse for his past thirty 
years' silence, but he patched it up with a little French, and so 
we hobbled on. " Im speaks," said he, " ze French besser zan 
ze England," — and so he did. 

Don Felipe was a medico, or doctor, in a small way, and was 
in great demand. He had one sovereign remedy for all com- 
plaints, which was that of Doctor Sangrado. He would draw 
more blood, for less money, than any physician I ever met. An 
Indian woman came to be bled while we were waiting for the 
horses, and he drew from her a pint of blood, into a cup clotted 
w^th gore, and charged her only a real, or twelve cents. 

It was said to be fifteen miles from town to the rancho where 
we were to pass the night, and we ought to have started at noon, 
but it was four o'clock when we did start. There is always a 
vast difference, in Mexico, between the time you should leave, 
and the time when you do leave, always. Don Felipe insisted 
on accompanying me to the rancho, leaving his lucrative prac- 
tice — doctors always have " lucrative practices " — to the care 
of his daughters, who were left alone. He was a sad-faced, 
quiet man, with thoughtful eyes and grizzled beard, — a grave 
and courtly Mexican, whose sense of duty to a chance guest 
impelled him to climb the mountain with him. 

Leaving town, the road winds through great fields planted 
with corn, and soon runs at the bottom of a deep barranca, or 
ravine, ploughed out by the torrents that sometimes descend 
from the mountains. Our peon led a horse with a pack-saddle, 
and Don Felipe, the guide, and myself had each a small, but 
wiry horse, half hidden beneath a great Mexican saddle with 
large boot stirrups, on the pommel of which was coiled a lariat. 

As we ascended, we met cattle and sheep, tended by many 
children in ragged garments, and donkeys and horses dragging 
long sticks of timber on wooden wheels a foot or two in diame- 
ter. To pass these we had to ride up the steep banks and wait. 
As we reached the pine trees — which do not descend in a body 



POPOCATAPETL. 



379 



below a certain altitude — the fields improved ; wheat and bar- 
ley grew high and thick, as far as the eye could reach. Over 
to the left was a flour-mill all alone. There are no houses be- 
tween the town and the crater, — " Only," says Don Felipe, 
solemnly, and crossing himself hastily, — " only the mountains 
and God ! " 

The pines grew more abundant, and the air was filled with 
their resinous odor; jays and chickadees — birds of the tem- 
perate zone — flitted from tree to tree, and reminded me of 
Northern woods. A high, conical hill, rising out of a great field 
to the right, planted with corn to the top, and with rude ruins 
on its summit, is called Tetepetongo, the hill of the round 
stones, and was formerly used as an Indian place of sacrifice, — 
at least so says tradition. A sister elevation a mile distant, 
also artificial, or artificially graded, is known as Tusantepec. 
As we went up among immense trees, old Popo' seemed at one 
time right ahead, shining golden in the setting sun ; again, he 
was far away, and we seemed travelling from him. We went up, 
still up, the great trees growing greater, towering far above us, 
huge hemlocks and pines. A hill covered with coarse grass was 
on our left, and, as we reached its base, the night crept upon us 
silently, and wrapped us in its sable folds. We were then ten 
thousand feet above the sea, enclosed in a cold atmosphere, and 
chilled by half-congealed rain. Nothing could compare, for 
dreariness, with the oppressive silence of those high forests; 
not even a murmur of wind in the tree-tops, no bird of night to 
startle us with his cries, — nothing but the hoof-beats of our 
horses, and the crackling of twigs and branches that they 
stepped upon. 

Don Felipe, who had ridden before me silently, wrapped in 
his cloak, now halted, and demanded abruptly if I was armed. 

I said certainly, and asked him if he also had a pistol. 

" No," said he ; " the people here all know me, and know that 
I am poor. But you — they think, of course, that you are rich." 

" But there are no people living here." 

" No ; but they are passing all the time, and some may have 
followed us from town." 



380 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

" But I have no money, — look at me ! " 

" A man can't travel without money." 

" Humph ! yes, a little, but not enough to tempt them to kill 
me." 

" Sefior, they would kill you for a dollar ! Sefior, there is a 
black cross on the road yonder. If it were not so dark, we might 
see it. There, a friend of mine was killed by the bad men." 

"Killed for what?" 

" For nothing." 

" For money? " 

" Si, sefior, they shot him there." 

It was indeed true ; for, two days later, coming down the 
mountain in the freshness of the morning, I saw the veritable 
cross, opposite a tangled thicket in a lonely pass. It was of 
rough wood, painted black, and with an inscription on it, de- 
siring all who passed to offer a prayer for the soul of the mur- 
dered man. Here, Don Felipe paused a moment, crossed 
himself, and murmured a supplication. 

I was about to tell Don Felipe that I was a dead shot, but I 
thought that, if I must die that night, I would at least be clear 
of falsehood for that day. So I jogged along in sullen silence, 
blaming myself for being led into such a dilemma, and blaming 
Don Felipe for starting so late, when he knew that we must 
traverse this dense wood after dark. It was now so dark that 
my unaccustomed eyes could see nothing but the black trunks 
of the pines, and I followed blindly my guide and peon, with 
Don Felipe behind me. Through an opening in the wood, we 
obtained one last glimpse of Popocatapetl, standing up like a 
sheeted ghost against the black sky, and then entered a portion 
of the forest so dense that I could only follow my peon by his 
white shirt, and my guide by the glinting silver of his sombrero. 
We rode over fallen trees, striking limbs and projecting branches, 
stumbling into holes, jumping gulches, climbing hills, descend- 
ing hollows, — all in pitchy darkness. Suddenly, we were 
brought to a halt, and the peon darted into the black thicket. 
I clutched my revolver nervously, and settled myself firmly in 
the saddle, believing that some foul play was meditated, when 



POPOCATAPETL. 38 I 

Don Felipe told me that he was searching for the trail. The 
peon and volcanero held a consultation, and it was agreed to 
leave all to the pack-horse; and then we went on again, the 
peon clinging to his horse's tail, — all depending upon the in- 
stinct of that poor brute. 

The Cnidado ! — "Beware !" — of the guide became more 
frequent as the path was obstructed by fallen pines and cut 
by numerous gulches. A long-drawn howl swept through the 
black forest at intervals, which Don Felipe said was that of a 
coyote, or wolf; and more rarely we heard the blood-curdling 
cry of the puma, or mountain lion. Fortunately for travellers, 
but unfortunately for naturalists, these animals are exceedingly 
rare. One would have been enough, however, for us that night; 
he could have destroyed the entire party without our seeing him 
at all. We descended a steep ravine and climbed a high hill 
covered with pines, down which we went, and crossed another 
ravine ; and about this time, when I thought it would be the 
proper thing to despair, we turned a clump of trees and saw a 
light. Soon we reached a gate, which a servant opened at our 
bidding, and Don Domingo, the mayor-domo, warmly welcomed 
us. We had been five hours in the saddle, and were so cold 
and stiff we could hardly get our legs together when lifted to the 
ground. The poor peon, who had walked and run all the way, 
with only a shirt on, and cotton trousers rolled up to his thighs, 
had to attend to the horses; though Don Felipe — true caballero 
that he was — allowed no one but himself to care for his. 

It was nine o'clock, Don Domingo told us ; we had thus 
passed three hours groping in the darkness of the mountain 
forests. Made welcome to the roughly-built house, we entered 
and found a roaring fire leaping up the open throat of a clay 
chimney. By this cheering blaze we thawed ourselves out, and 
by the time meat was boiled and coffee ready were in condition 
to enjoy them. Don Domingo, a perfect gentleman of the type 
so often met with in Mexico, read my letter of introduction, and 
told me it was not necessary to present it, as he recognized 
in me a friend after his own heart. He then embraced me and 
patted me on the back, and set out his only remaining bottle 



382 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

of wine. There was but one bed, and in this Don Domingo 
had been sleeping when we arrived ; but he insisted that I should 
occupy it, and he and Don Felipe spread their sarapes on the 
floor, and were soon snoring, with their heads on their saddles. 
The " bed " was three or four boards, raised a foot from the 
floor and covered with a thin strip of straw matting. Drawing 
my sarape over my head, and belting my knife and revolver 
about me, I was soon in the land of dreams. 

The rancho of Tlamacas, says Charnay, the archaeologist, — 
who visited it, and found near it some of his most valuable pot- 
tery, — is at an elevation of 12,595 feet above the sea. It is in 
a valley, with high hills on all sides but the north, where the 
surface slopes toward the valley of Puebla, about nine leagues 
distant. The soil is volcanic, sand and grit, supporting a growth 
of coarse grass and great pines hoary with moss and lichens. 
In about the centre of this secluded valley is the rancho, its 
visible portion being the house and the subliming works, where 
the crude sulphur brought down from the crater is purified. 
This is done in earthen jars, which are broken when the sulphur 
is sublimed. 

Here, then, is a sort of half-way house for the volcaneros, 
and a resting-place for the mules and donkeys that transport 
the sulphur to the valley below. Sulphur is not the only pro- 
duct of the volcano ; for many years the only ice used in Mex- 
ico was obtained from the ravines seaming the cone, above the 
snow-line. Even to this day, the city of Puebla is supplied from 
the mountain. The Indians ascend far above the rancho, dig out 
the ice, where it rests congealed the year through, and carry it on 
their backs to the donkey trails, where it is packed on the backs 
of these animals to the valleys. From the fact that the ice is 
imperfectly crystallized and more resembles snow, it is known 
as nieve, snow, and this name is yet applied to the ice-cream 
made in the cities. In the Plaza of Mexico you will hear, every 
afternoon, the cries of the boys peddling ice-cream : "Nieve! 
tome nieve ! " 

The volcano towers directly above the rancho, southeast of it, 
first a broad strip of pines, then black volcanic sand ; then the 



POPOCATAPETL. 383 

snow-covered dome, with the black rock known as Pico del Fraile 
sticking up on its western ridge. 

The peon had been instructed to awaken us at three o'clock 
in the morning, that we might get well up to the snow-line be- 
fore the sun rose ; but the poor fellow was worn out with cold 
and fatigue, and when I awoke it was five o'clock, and neither 
horses nor coffee were ready. The temperature was 48 Fahr. 
as we started, and the trees sparkling with frost ; the sun peered 
above Malinche, — the solitary mountain that rises from the val- 
ley of Puebla, — turning it a fiery red, and bathing the whole 
Puebla valley in soft rosy mist, then, striking upon the cone of 
Popocatapetl, made it glisten like a silver dome. It was a glori- 
ous spectacle, with the sun's rays rebounding, as it were, from 
the silver mountain, that towered majestically so far above us 
into the blue ether. It nerved and braced me for a struggle 
that I had reason to think would be severe. For two weeks 
before I started, I had searched Mexico for some companion ; 
but was successful only in developing some of the most disheart- 
ening stories of previous experiences, from the few who had 
ascended the volcano, that ever reached the ears of man. First, 
I should be robbed in Ameca, then murdered on the road up 
the mountain, as I passed through the forest ; escaping these, I 
should certainly succumb to the cold at the rancho ; or, if not, 
then I could not miss bursting a blood-vessel as I reached the 
crater. Of the many who had attempted the ascent few had 
succeeded, for they either became footsore, or fainted, or bled 
at the nose, eyes, and ears, or from the lungs, or mangled them- 
selves on the frozen cone. It was a most discouraging prospect; 
but the trouble was with nearly all who have attempted the 
ascent, that they were mainly dwellers in cities, who had not 
often " roughed it," and who looked upon the whole trip as a 
glorious picnic, and prepared themselves accordingly, with 
great quantities of eatables and liquor. They, moreover, nearly 
always carried along their wives and families, and would drag 
these frail creatures as long as possible, and then have to take 
them back to the rancho. They told me I must wrap my feet 
with bundles of rags, to prevent them from sinking in the snow, 



384 



TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 



or wear spiked sandals; but I knew it must be pretty soft snow- 
that my feet would slump through, and so I merely strapped on 
my old hunting-shoes, which had assisted me in the climbing of 
many lesser volcanoes in the West Indies, and buckled on my 
canvas leggings ; this was the only preparation I made for 
climbing. My peon furnished me with a spiked staff, — not 
one of those gaudy alpenstocks, such as Cook excursionists use 




THE PEAK, FROM THE SNOW-LINE. 



in scaling the mighty Alps, and then bring home and stick up 
in a corner to be worshipped ever after, — but one little bigger 
than a broomstick, with a rigid iron spike in it. 

Leaving the rancho, we immediately entered the pines, and, 
riding through them for half a mile, struck diagonally down the 
side of a wide and deep barranca, and then climbed the other 
side in the same way ; here begins the vast stretch of volcanic 



POPOCATAPETL. 385 

sand that laps the base of the cone proper. The horses sank 
fetlock deep, the grade was tremendous, and their labored 
breathing", as they stopped every rod or two to get wind, was 
extremely painful to witness. Owing to the rarefacation of the 
air, and the great labor of wading through the heavy sand, it 
really seemed as though the blood would gush through their 
red, distended nostrils. Compelled to adopt a course of short 
zigzags, my mozos ranged far ahead of me, and reached the 
rendezvous long in advance of the horses. After about two 
hours of this work, during which the agony of the horses 
seemed so great that I was only restrained from dismounting by 
the knowledge that I needed all my strength for the final climb, 
we reached a ridge of rocks. It was the first of a series that 
cropped up through the black, shifting sand, and ran down to- 
ward Puebla in many a fantastic shape, evidently formed by fire. 
On the upper rock is a cross, indicating the death of a man, — 
this time not on the spot, but in the crater. At this spot, La 
Cruz, we halted the horses, and I gladly dismounted. 

The limit of vegetation 1 had been passed at a little distance 
above the barranca, the pines (the Pinus Montezuma) ending 
there in a body, as if refusing to advance even a single straggling 
sentinel farther; and then came clumps of coarse grass, dwin- 
dling finally to little specks, and at last all that remained were 
the hardly visible blotches of moss or sphagnum; above, all 
was sand, to the skirts of the everlasting snow. 

Here Don Felipe left me, and turned back with the horses. 
He had thus far come with me voluntarily and without recom- 
pense, as my companero, but his obligation — like that of the 
bride who ascended Mont Blanc with her husband and wilted 

1 " At the height of 14,500 feet all the Phanerogamia have vanished, and the vege- 
tation consists merely of mosses and lichens, which cover the separate rocks as high 
as 14,700 feet. Botanists acquainted with the Scandinavian Alps agree, that in the 
vicinity of the snow limit of the extreme North the Cryptogamia are more abundantly 
represented, both as to number and variety, than under similar circumstances in the 

tropical zone From the threshold of rigid death, as from the North Cape 

or the glaciers of Iceland, our eyes pass from the Arctic zone and the pine groves 
of the North to the gardens cf the Hesperides with their golden fruit, and thence to 
the glowing zone where the palms and the arborescent grasses are developed. — 
Sartorius. 

25 



386 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

half-way up — did not extend beyond the snow-line. Dear 
Don Felipe ! he embraced me as though for the last time, and 
his serious face assumed an even graver expression as he warned 
me to return immediately that I felt symptoms of giddiness. 
Then he turned and plodded down the mountain, as we pre- 
pared to ascend. 

A sublime spectacle was opened to me as I stood by the lonely 
black cross, wedged into the fire-scathed rock, at this elevation 
of 15,000 feet. The eye ranged over a vast valley, down the 
ridges, above the black belt of volcanic sand, across the pines, 
to La Mujer Blanca, the dead White Woman, now with a wreath 
of cloud above her, and her snowy breasts upturned, bared to 
the pitiless sky. A broad table-land lies between the two vol- 
canoes, which appears, at a lower elevation, like a narrow gap. 
Through this gap, which I passed the night before, runs the trail 
that Cortes took, when he first approached the valley of Mexico. 
From its western slope, the future conquerors first saw the won- 
derful vision that seemed to them like a picture of enchanted 
land. " Eight leagues from the city of Cholula," wrote Cortes, 
in his letters to his sovereign, " are two very lofty and remark- 
able mountains ; in the latter part of August their summits are 
covered with snow ; and from the highest, by night as well as by 
day, a volume of smoke arises, which ascends above the moun- 
tain to the clouds, as straight as an arrow. As I have desired to 
render your Highness a very minute account of everything in 
this part of the world, I wished to ascertain the cause of this 
phenomenon, as it appeared to me, and I despatched ten of my 
companions, such as I thought suitable for this purpose, with 
several natives of the country for guides, charging them to use 
every endeavor to ascend the mountain and find out the cause of 
that smoke. They went, and struggled with all their might to 
reach the summit, but were unable, on account of the great 
quantity of snow that lay on the mountain and the whirlwinds of 
ashes that swept over it, and also because they found the cold in- 
supportable. But they reached very near the summit, and while 
they were there the smoke began to issue forth with so much 
force and noise that it seemed as if the whole sierra was crum- 



POPOCATAPETL. 



387 



bling to the ground ; so they descended, and brought with them 
a considerable quantity of snow and icicles, that we might see 

them, as it was something quite new in this region While 

on their way to the mountain, the party discovered a road, and 
inquired of their Indian companions where it led, who told them 
to Culua (Mexico). They followed this road until they began 
to ascend the mountain, between which and the other elevation 




THE VOLCANOES, FROM CHAPULTEPEC 

it passed ; and from it they discovered the plains of Culua, 
and the great city of Temixtitan, and the lakes of that great 
province." 1 

The same scene of beauty that greeted the delighted eyes 
of the Spaniards, three hundred and sixty years ago, was un- 
folded to me as I stood at the foot of La Cruz, eight thou- 
sand feet above the valley of Mexico, where the glimmering 
towers of the city could be seen, though fifty miles away. The 

1 " The Spaniards followed nearly the same track which the courier of Mexico 
takes on his way to Puebla, by Mecameca, which is traced on the map of the valley of 
Tenochtitlan." — Humboldt. 



388 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

valley of Puebla, away to the north, lay half veiled in vapor, 
revealing little lakes, a village here and there, white church tow- 
ers, and the varied hues of hill and vale, of wooded mountain 
and populous plain. Rising high above it was the extinct vol- 
cano, Malinche, or Malintzin, named by the Indians in honor 
of Cortes, and far away to the east the peak of Orizaba, a 
hundred and fifty miles distant, its snowy cone glistening like 
a diamond above the enveloping clouds. A glorious vision, — 
one that I could have looked upon for hours ; but the gather- 
ing clouds of mist, rolling up from the valleys, warned me 
that it was dangerous to linger longer. 

A wide belt of deep sand lay between us and the solid snow, 
flecked here and there with little drifts and straggling remnants 
of former storms. Through this we slowly and painfully waded, 
falling back at least one step in three, and breathing the first sigh 
of relief when finally among the snow-fields. Simultaneously 
with our reaching the snow, the threatening clouds gathered 
about us, and we were enveloped in as dense a fog as any I 
have ever seen on the Atlantic coast. 

The real dangers to be encountered in the ascent of Popocat- 
apetl, as enumerated by a traveller who preceded me by eighteen 
years, are avalanches, shifting sands, sand slides, lightning play- 
ing over the metallic sands, whirlwinds of sand, unseen chasms, 
and rupture of the lungs. We had passed the sands, and were 
now in danger only from the two last. 

We were now fairly above the cloud strata and walking onward 
as in a dream, conscious of direction only by the steepness of 
the incline before us. The only guide-book that describes the 
ascent of the volcano warns travellers to " provide themselves 
with overcoats, veils, and alpenstocks, which they dive into the 
ashes and volcanic sand." It is not absolutely necessary to pro- 
vide yourself with veils and overcoats "to dive into the volcanic 
sand," but you must have blue goggles, to prevent the effects of 
the strong reflection of the sun's rays from this glaring surface 
of snow. A person with a delicate complexion might also feel 
the need of a green veil, and the mozo should carry for him an 
overcoat or extra wraps. 



POPOCATAPETL. 



389 



In the language of a correspondent of a New York paper, 
writing from Mexico at the time of my ascent, I went up " alone, 
with three Indian guides." Well, so I did ; at least, there was no 
gente de razon, or white man, along with me. There was my 
peon, in cotton shirt and pants, with only a remnant of a sarape 
over his shoulders, and only his sandals strapped to his bare 
feet. He carried my tourograph, or camera, and a canteen of 
" nourishment," besides the provisions. Then, there was my 
"guide," now degenerated into a mere companero, or companion, 
who knew nothing, as I later ascertained, of the mountain ; and 
the real guide, an old man picked up at the rancho. He also 
wore cotton shirt and pants, and a broad sombrero, but had his 
feet swathed in strips of blanket till they looked as though he 
had an infliction of elephantiasis. 

The peon and I soon left the others behind, and plodded on, 
one step after another, for hours. The snow was just right for 
climbing over ; as there had been no recent fall, it had been soft- 
ened and compacted, giving quite a good foothold. It had been 
gnawed by the sun till it lay in great cakes, tilted up edgewise, 
forming a labyrinth of passages, through which we slowly picked 
our way. 

Such terrible stories had been told me of the sufferings en- 
dured by mountain climbers up this cone of snow, that I had 
prepared myself to meet and overcome obstacles requiring 
almost superhuman strength and endurance. I had resolved 
to go on, step by step, taking my time, shedding my last 
drop of blood, if necessary; but to reach the summit by all 
means. So I took it serenely, following close after my peon, 
treading where he trod, and letting him take off the wire edge 
of the trail. He seemed to like that. It showed I had confi- 
dence in him, and so I had, — confidence that if he fell into a 
hole and disappeared, I should not follow suit. Half-way up, 
perhaps, my " guides " cried out, " Sefior, we can't go any 
farther, we are lost." We were surrounded by mist that ob- 
scured everything more than ten feet away from us ; but I 
could not see how we could get lost, when, if we went up far 
enough, we should reach the crater brim ; or, if low enough, we 



390 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

should come out on the belt of ashes ; and so I told them. My 
peon also was of my opinion; and, as we combined had the 
food, drink, instruments, and pistols, I did not care whether 
the others came on or not. In Mexico, I had procured a 
double-handful of the famous coca leaves, — the stay and stim- 
ulant of the Indians of the Peruvian Andes, — and to these may 
be attributed, possibly, the fact that I made the ascent without 
fatigue. Whatever the reason, I went on, calmly chewing my 
cud of coca leaves ; up, up, surmounting one snowy barrier 
after another, for four hours or more, until my faithful servant 
turned and said, " Seflor, aqui estd el crater /" — " Here is the 
crater ! " 

Reaching the place where he stood, I suddenly came upon 
a black and yawning gulf, which even the dense mist could 
not conceal. Here, for the first time, there darted through 
my temples a severe pain, which remained for hours, even 
till I had descended to .the rancho. Overcome by conflicting 
emotions, and needing no longer any further stimulus, I sank 
upon the crater's brim, breathless and panting from excitement. 
Then I rose exultingly, and discharged the six chambers of 
my revolver into the air, creating such a concussion in the cra- 
ter that great stones rattled down its perpendicular sides, and 
the reverberation nearly deafened us. From "crag to crag" 
leaped the volumes of sound, like peals of thunder, and finally 
died away in receding murmurs, as though retreating farther 
and farther into the entrails of old Tlaloc, the god of storms, 
whose brow I now stood upon, at a height of nearly eighteen 
thousand feet above the sea. 

The lip of the crater is a narrow rim of sand, lying above the 
black abyss and at the edge of the sea of snow, like the coral 
ledge composing an atoll of the southern seas. Its highest point 
is at the west, its lowest at the east, and the crater has somewhat 
the shape of an ellipse, four or five thousand feet in its longer 
diameter and over one thousand feet deep. The snow stopped 
abruptly at this wreath of sand, rising to a height of from six 
to eight feet, and curling over it, but prevented from advancing 
farther by the heat from the crater. " Thus far and no farther ! " 



POJ'OCATAl'ETL. 



391 



the heated breath of Tlaloc's vitals belched in the face of the 
boreal visitor, which rested like a cloak upon his shoulders. 
When an opening in the clouds occurred, I descended over the 
brim about one hundred feet, clinging to the projections of por- 
phyritic rock to a rocky platform, whence the laborers in the 
volcano were lowered to the bottom of the crater. They had 
not been at work for a month, and the malacate, or hoisting- 
winch, was dismantled ; but, by holding by the great beams, I 
could peer over the brink into the horrible pit below. Directly 
beneath me ascended a dense sulphur cloud, from which, and 
from various other vents scattered over the surface, arose the 
strong fumes that suggested to us the infernal regions. It is 
from these vents, called respiradores , that the sulphur is ob- 
tained, being sublimed upon the sides of the crater. About 
twenty years ago, the present owner of the volcano commenced 
to work this dangerous sulphur mine, removing the sulphur at 
a great profit. At present the only supply is that from the 
condensed fumes, as it is deposited ; but originally there was 
the accumulation of centuries. 

Here is the testimony of Cortes himself as to the finding 
of it: "As for sulphur, it has been taken out by a Spaniard, 
who descended seventy or eighty fathoms, by means of a rope 
attached to his body below his arms ; from which source we 
have so far been enabled to obtain sufficient supplies, although 
it is attended with danger." 

In 1625, an English traveller visited Mexico, and thus describes 
the volcano : " Popocatapec is one of the chief of these fiery 
Mountains, which signifieth a hill of smoak, for many times it 
casteth out smoak and fire. When Cortes passed that way, he 
sent ten Spaniards to view it, with many Indians to carry their 
victuals and guide them ; but two of them went up to the top, 
and at length came under a great smoak, very thick ; and stand- 
ing there awhile the darkness vanished away, and then appeared 
the Vulcan and concavity, out of which the air came rebounding 
with a very great noise. The smoak and heat were so great 
that they could not abide it and were constrained to return. 
But they had not gone far when the Vulcan began to flash out 



392 



TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 



flames of fire, ashes, and embers ; yea, and at the last stones of 
burning fire ; and if they had not chanced to find a rock under 
which they had shadowed themselves, undoubtedly they had 
there been burned. Before the coming of Cortes, for ten years' 
space, it had left off expelling vapour or smoak ; but in the year 
1540 it began again to burn, and with the horrible noise thereof 
the people that dwelt four leagues from it were terrified." 




AT THE SUMMIT. 



We are told that Humboldt was the first who reached the 
crater brim in modern times ; and the first really scientific 
examination of it was in 1856, by a Mexican engineer, General 
Gaspar Sanchez Ochoa, who made the height, by barometer, to 
be 19,443 feet above sea level. 

The entire depth, from the malacate to the plaza horizontal, 
or floor of the crater, is about three hundred metres, the floor 
itself being about two hundred metres in circumference, and the 
length of the acclivity some six hundred ; the interior temper- 



POPOCATAPKTL. 393 

ature changes according to the proximity of the respiradores, or 
sulphur vents. There are more than sixty sulfataras, one of 
which is over fifty feet in circumference, and from all parts 
columns of smoke more or less dense, and deadly fumes, are 
constantly issuing forth. 

Complete daylight reigns at the bottom of the crater, but all 
this changes very quickly when a storm, or borrasca, is coming 
on ; then the air becomes completely darkened, and the snow 
drifts thickly down, only to melt as soon as it settles, the 
respiradores are roaring continually, the heat increases to such 
an extent as to become insupportable, while from the centres of 
the sulfataras from time to time dart out flames and burning 
matters. It will thus be seen that the crater is not a pleasant 
place to work in, and that the laborers there run great risks. 
It is quite difficult for General Ochoa (to whom I am indebted 
for the above description of the abyss) to obtain laborers, as 
one would naturally suppose ; though there is no especial mor- 
tality among the men working at this altitude, who labor in 
gangs, alternate weeks, camping in the crater beneath rough 
sheds. A sudden storm or earthquake sometimes makes it un- 
comfortable for them ; but these volca?ieros are .a hardy class of 
Indians, and, if well supplied with mescal and aguardiente, endure 
their hardships wonderfully well. 

Ascending again to the brim, I pitched my camera, and 
awaited an opportunity to get a view of the crater; but just 
then a few snowflakes drifted by, and the next minute a violent 
gust compelled us to seek shelter beneath the ledge of snow. 
The storm raged furiously for over an hour, pelting us unmer- 
cifully, till we were half buried in the drifts, and threatening 
to materially interfere with my photographic exposures ; but 
taking advantage of a lull in the gale I crept with my guide to 
what he called the highest point, — el pico, — though without 
getting a view of the lower regions. We were indeed above the 
clouds, and on the very battle-field of the aerial elements. From 
the dismal depths of the crater the hissing of escaping steam and 
booming detonations told of the activity of the internal forces, 
while the crashing of falling stones awoke the echoes of this 
great basin in deafening reverberations. 



394 



TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 



At last, after more than three hours on the mountain-top, 
vainly looking for a clear view over the expanse below, came 
the time for leaving, and I prepared to descend, first however tak- 
ing stock of the provisions and drinking my canteen of cold tea. 
Wishing to make the ascent as much a test of endurance as 
possible, — as it is certainly a test of lung and vital power, — I 
had not drunk or eaten anything since my biscuit and coffee of 
the morning, having accomplished the ascent in six hours, with 
nothing in my mouth but the coca. 

If the ascent was slow and tedious, going down was exactly 
the reverse. Down the cone, the laborers of the last month had 
dug a long, straight trench, leading from the crater brim to the 
fields of volcanic sand, over which they used to slide the sul- 
phur. Had they been working then I should have borrowed a 
petate, or mat of bulrush, and have slid down on that, as they 
were wont to do ; but as they were not, I stood up on my broad- 
soled shoes, and, guiding my course with my alpenstock, flew 
downward with the speed of the wind. 

In less than ten minutes I had left the region of storms, and 
had emerged into one of calm, the snow-cakes spinning past me 
in away decidedly lively; in less than two more I had come near 
sliding into that zone of tropic heat we sometimes read about, 
for my toe caught an ice-chunk and sent me burrowing into a 
crevice, looking for the centre of the volcano. Fortunately, 
there was not room enough both for me and my clumsy shoes ; 
so my peon pulled me out in time to prevent suffocation, and set 
me down in the snow to recover. Then, with long leaps, we 
sped down the cone and out upon the sand, and finally reached 
La Cruz, whence our descent to the rancho was uneventful. 

Popocatapetl stands high among the volcanoes, and holds a 
respectable position among mountains in general. " There are 
no Alps," quaintly observes Friar Gage, " like unto it for Height, 
cold, and constant Snow that lieth upon it." 

No two authorities perfectly agree as to its altitude ; according 
to Humboldt (trigonometrical measurement) it is 17,716 feet; 
the French savans made it 18,362, and the Mexican geographer, 
Garcia Cubas, 5,400 metres; the limit of pines is placed at 
12,544 feet, and that of vegetation at 12,963. 



POPOCATAPETL. 



395 



At sunset of the day of our descent, Popocatapetl seemed on 
fire, as his peak took on a rosy glow that soon suffused the 
whole cone ; and later, as the sun sank down, and spread its 
warm coloring over the eastern sky, he appeared as though 
encased in burnished gold ; but as the glowing orb disappeared 
entirely, he relapsed into livid white, standing there, a moun- 
tain of marble, against a cold steel-blue sky. The Woman in 
White did not share in this after-glow of the sun, but remained 
resting without change upon her bier, a slight mist draping and 
giving her the pallor of a corpse. 

It snowed that night at the rancho, and the next morning 
the whole cone was covered deep, even down among the pines. 
The sand-field that we had ploughed through the day before 
was heaped high with drifts, so that we could not have crossed it. 
El Pico del Fraile was hung with huge icicles, and our hut was 
white with snow, which dripped off as the sun came up. The 
day was calm and clear, the valley below was buried in a dull 
blue vapor, through which lakes and villages barely glimmered ; 
and sparrows and snowbirds gathered about the door, thus 
completing the illusion of a northern day in spring. Finally, 
we filed through the valley pass, beneath the silent pines, 
breathing an air delicious with balsam, brisk and exhilarating, 
and so turned our backs, with deep regret, upon Popocatapetl, 
monarch by natural right of Mexico. 




MEXICAN VOLCANOES. 



i Popocatapetl. 
2 Iztaccihuatl. 



3 Nevada de Toluca. 

4 Ajusco. 



5 Orizaba. 

6 Cofre de Perote. 



XX. 



A JOURNEY IN A DILIGENCE. 

IN the week in which the ascent of Popocatapetl was under- 
taken, I was particularly favored, for it does not often fall to 
the lot of man to witness a genuine, sanguinary bull-fight, to 
climb to the top of the highest volcano in North America, and 
to attend a banquet to the highest dignitary of our country, all 
within the space of seven days. 

Yet I accomplished them all, and to this day cannot say 
which I relished most, — fight, feast, or climb. I think that our 
Minister's reception to Grant also occurred that week, when, 
through the kindness of our diplomatic representative, Mr. Mor- 
gan, I had the privilege of an interesting conversation with the 
former leader of our armies. General Grant confessed that he 
too had essayed Popocatapetl, when stationed at Amecameca, 
during the Mexican war, and had performed the ascent only after 
a great deal of difficulty. 

He was plain Lieutenant Grant at that time ; but, though he 
has since climbed to grander heights than many of his con- 
temporaries, he could not then have been more affable and 
delightful than we find him at the present day. Even now, I 
believe he would rather ride through the sombre pines of Popo- 
catapetl, and feast his eyes upon the glorious scenery that greets 
one when beyond the snow-line, than attend another one of the 
feasts and receptions that have of late years wearied him. 

Banquets and receptions are, I suppose, nearly the same the 
world over, the difference merely being in the men who give and 
the men who receive them ; all, as a rule, are a " weariness to 
the flesh." This granted, I tajce occasion to hasten away from 
the city, and start on a little journey southward. 



A JOURNEY IN A DILIGENCE. 397 

The day of the diligence — of the good old-fashioned stage- 
coach — in Mexico is drawing to a close, for the railroad is 
pushing it from point to point, farther and farther into the wil- 
derness and away from the larger towns and cities. But there 
are certain places to which, even after the advent of the engine, 
the coach will be preferred by travellers open to the beauty of 
scenery along the road, and who wish to lose none of the moun- 
tain views about the valley of Mexico. Cuernavaca is one of 
these : separated by mountains from the capital, the journey 
thither by diligence is one of the most interesting that can be 
made, for it is surrounded by the halo of one of the most 
adventurous exploits of Cortes, and lies in a valley open to the 
influences of a perfectly tropical climate. 

At six in the morning, the diligence dashes out of the great 
portal of the Diligencias Generales, rattles through the streets 
awhile, and then takes to the open plain surrounding the city. 
A seat to Cuernavaca costs $4.50, and fifty cents extra for every 
arroba of luggage more than one. Nine mules constitute the 
complement to each team, and these are kept on the gallop by 
the driver, who cracks a very long whip with great energy, and 
by his assistant, who casts stones at their ears with an accuracy 
of aim as wonderful as it is effective. 

I had secured a seat in the diligence with a special view to 
inspecting the scenes made famous by their connection with 
the ancient (Spanish) and comparatively recent (American) 
occupations of the valley by the respective armies of Cortes 
and Scott ; but the jolting of the conveyance was such that I 
was sorely disappointed, as well as severely shaken, and we 
sped out of the city gate, which was menaced by the gallant 
Twiggs, and past Churubusco with its ruined walls, where the 
tide of battle surged and ebbed, and up into the foot-hills, with 
hardly a glimpse of most ancient Coyoacan, where Cortes held 
his headquarters during the siege of Mexico. Even Mexican 
mules must slacken their speed, however, when among the 
roughest of Mexican hills; and as they paused a little for breath, 
we craned our necks out of the windows for a backward glance 
at the great vale of Anahuac, which lay between us and the 



398 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

rising sun. Ah, glorious valley ! right willingly would I be 
thumped and pounded by a hundred diligences, could I transport 
myself at will back to thy eastern or thy western brim ! How 
sorry am I that I was not with Cortes and his knights when 
they first peered within its precincts, that I might give vent 
to my admiration ; but now, coming at this late day, others 
have preceded me, and have exhausted the vocabulary of 
praise in its description. 

Yet consolation comes in the thought that great minds have 
been quickened by these same scenes, — Cortes, Humboldt, 
Clavigero, Prescott, Southey. Recall, now, the poet's descrip- 
tion of the vale of Aztlan, as it burst upon the view of the aston- 
ished and delighted Madoc : — 

" From early morning till the miclnoon hour 
We travelled in the mountains ; then a plain 
Opened below, and rose upon the sight, 
Like boundless ocean from a hill top seen. 
A beautiful and populous plain it was ; 
Fair woods were there, and fertilizing streams, 
And pastures spreading wide, and villages 
In fruitful groves embowered, and stately towns, 
And many a single dwelling specking it, 
As though for many a year the land had been 
The land of peace. Below us, where the base 
Of the great mountain to the level sloped, 
A broad blue lake extended far and wide, 
Its waters dark beneath the light of noon. 
There Aztlan stood, upon the farther shore ; 
Amid the shade of trees its dwellings rose, 
Their level roofs with turrets set around, 
And battlements all burnished white, which shone 
Like silver in the sunshine." 

I do not wish to administer doses of Cortes ad nauseam ; but 
this journey has as its special object a visit to the country-seat 
of the famous conquistador, acquired after he had subjected the 
Aztecs and had been created Marquis of the Valley. The scene 
of his most remarkable exploits lies before us, not only in the 
city we have just left, but at the foot of the hills we are now 
climbing. Nearest to us now is the town of Xochimilco, on the 
borders of the lake of the same name, where the brave Mexi- 



A JOURNEY IN A DILIGENCE. 



399 



cans once came near making the general a prisoner, and all but 
succeeded in carrying him off captive to the temple of sacrifice, 
where the great drums of serpent-skin were already beating in 
anticipation of the event. 
Ah, if they had ! But then 
there would have been no 
conquest, and we should 
have been left without an 
object for this little jour- 
ney. Perhaps it was as 
well for all concerned that 
he was not taken. 

It was noon, and we had 
climbed up from the valley 
to an altitude which placed 
us well inside the zone of 
tierrafria; we had passed 
gray and gnarled olive or- 
chards, — successful wit- 
nesses to their introduc- 
tion from Spain, — vine- 
yards, pulque plantations, 
and scattered villages, and 
as the sun attained a posi- 
tion directly above the val- 
ley we halted for breakfast. 
Not to seem disrespectful, 
I will call La Guardia a 
hamlet, though one house 
and half a score of huts 
comprised hamlet and ho- 
tel. Chile con came and 
chicken, frijoles and tor- 
tillas, — the reader most QN THE WAY TO MARKET . 
assuredly knows what these 

are by this time, — washed down by pulque, was the breakfast 
here given us, for the sum of fifty cents. The hut was rough, 




400 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 






dirty, thatched, its only adornment being pottery of various 
patterns and colors, the meal was hustled on to the table in a 
most unceremonious manner, and the driver drew his suste- 
nance from the fire before it reached us ; yet we grumbled not, 
for the table-cloth was clean. 

As we went on we were met by numerous Indians, bearing 
heavy loads upon their backs, on their way to the market at 
Mexico. They were cheerful, though taciturn, and they excited 
my wonder at their endurance, some of them making a distance 
of sixty miles to market. When arrived at their destination they 
sell their burdens for a few reales, scarcely ever more than a 
dollar or two, and trudge home contented, after filling their skins 
full of pulque. The loads they carried were crates of tomatoes 
and pumpkins ; one had a couple of dozen fowls, another a load 
of parrots, fifteen in number, for which he asked two reales 
each. Some of these carriers have made (without burdens) 
the distance from Acapulco to Cuernavaca, eighty leagues, in 
seven days. 

The last view of the valley of Mexico is cut off just before 
La Guardia is reached, and about two leagues beyond is the 
famous Cruz del Marques, the stone cross marking the boun- 
dary line of the former possessions of Cortes; and this land- 
mark is at a point 9,700 feet above the sea. A great pine forest 
mantles the ridge, through which the coach bowls merrily, 
accompanied by the guard, — for " road agents " here watch 
their opportunity with an eye to business, — and said " guard," of 
four soldiers, in straw hats and ragged cotton garments, carry- 
ing rusty and antiquated muskets, is forced to shuffle along on 
foot at a lively gait, or get left behind to the tender mercies of 
the bandits. 

The pine forests of these mountains are all alike, resembling 
the " parks " of Arizona and New Mexico, with great trees, cloud- 
reaching, and a soil thinly covered with grass. Not far beyond 
the Cruz del Marques, the descent begins into the valley of 
Cuernavaca and towards the western coast This descent, from 
the plateau to the tierta caliente, is more abrupt than on the 
eastern slope, and consequently we dash at once from one zone 



A JOURNEY IN A DILIGENCE. 4OI 

into the other, and through the pines, while yet in the moun- 
tains, gain glimpses of fields of sugar-cane and the fresh verdure 
of a foliage that frost never injures. We rattled down the hills, 
crossing more streams than on the eastern side of the range, the 
heat growing stronger, though the afternoon was waning, and 
reached the town at four. 

Having a letter to the chief missionary of the Protestants, from 
my good friend Mr. Patterson of Mexico, I set out in quest of 
him, and it surprised me to learn that hardly any one in this 
very small city could direct me to the mission. At last I found 
el templo, the mission building, a long and low structure built 
around two sides of a square, and the kind pastor insisted that I 
should at once take up my quarters with him. A " shake-down " 
was provided, at the expense of a visiting missionary from the 
country, who slept on two benches wrapped in his sarape, and, 
though warned of the scorpions of Cuernavaca, which delight in 
dropping upon a sleeper unawares, I was at an early hour asleep 
in the hot country again. The mission here, purchased with 
much difficulty by Mr. Patterson, is a valuable property, and 
includes not only a lovely garden, and a fountain fed by a per- 
petual stream, but a large field of alfalfa and plantains. The 
devout and earnest Mexican minister in charge had collected a 
flock of some seventy sincere converts, and was laboring, under 
many disadvantages, to add to the number from among his 
neighbors and fellow-countrymen. None of them spoke Eng- 
lish, but that did not seem to render them unhappy, and they 
had acquired the good old Methodist fashion of calling one 
another brothers, hermanos, and sisters, hermanas, and of pray- 
ing with an unction that was all the more impressive from being 
in the sonorous Spanish tongue. 

Now I was not on a religious mission, although my lines 
were for the nonce cast with the missionaries; but was quite 
well satisfied with much smaller game than that afforded by the 
genus homo ; for while my friends were directing their efforts 
towards bagging the Mexican, I was merely hunting birds and 
butterflies. But they graciously relaxed their pursuit of the 
larger quarry long enough to accompany me on mine of the 

26 



402 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

smaller, and hence I was never without a " brother," — un 
buen hermano, — to guide me to the haunts of the denizens 
of the fields. 

Fair Cuernavaca ! It well merits the ancient name, Cuauhna- 
huac, or Flower-surrounded. The casual visitor sees few of its 
charms, for they lie concealed in the suburbs, and in gardens 
enclosed by formidable walls; its architecture is not of the 
finest, and only the convents and churches are in any wise re- 
markable. The town lies about four thousand feet above the 
sea, built on a spur of land jutting out from the mountains, be- 
tween two barrancas, or ravines, of great length and dizzy depth. 
With heat and water at command, its vegetation is luxuriant, 
and its suburbs are one continuous garden. 

At five in the morning of the 31st of May, I was awakened by 
the singing of the wrens in the roof, and shortly after Pastor 
Pastrana, with two of the ever-faithful brothers, guided me to 
the southern barranca. It cannot be less than two hundred feet 
deep, and between its narrow walls a thread of a stream tumbles 
to the gravelly bottom, which we reached by cautiously stealing 
along the cliff, and looked out through the fleecy veil from a deep 
cave worn by the water behind it. Empress Carlotta has been 
here, and astonished the natives by walking along a narrow shelf 
of rock beyond, where it was very risky ; above were the tower- 
ing walls of basalt, below the gravelly bowl, fifty feet across, into 
which the stream fell. We wandered through corn-fields, and 
along a side-hill covered with plantains and guava trees, their 
roots watered by gentle streams, and peered up through their 
branches at the blue sky beyond, but without getting many 
birds, or even moths or butterflies. 

Two great barrancas, as I have said, run down from the moun- 
tain, and, meeting below Cuernavaca, enclose it in their embrace. 
It thus occupies an almost impregnable position, so far as dan- 
ger from assault is concerned, and was one of the most difficult 
of captures during the Spanish invasion. Coming up from the 
lake of Chalco, in the spring of 1521, while preparations were 
going on for the investment of Mexico, the Spanish army at- 
tacked Cuernavaca. For a long time they could make no head- 



A JOURNEY IN A DILIGENCE. 



403 



way, so well protected was the 
town by these deep ravines. 
At last, while searching for a 
bridge, some of the soldiers 
found a spot where two trees 
had fallen across the narrow, 
though abysmal chasm, and 
over these, at the risk of 
their lives, the brave fellows 
crawled, rallied on the other 
side, and captured the town. 
I could never credit this 




achievement, as 
given by the old 
chroniclers, until I 
myself had viewed 
the very ravine, per- 
haps at the same 
spot crossed by the 
conquerors ; then I 
readily believed it, 
and saw that it was 
possible, though 
hazardous, for them to accomplish it, and do not wonder that 
some fell, through dizziness, and were killed. It is the eastern 



THE DOUBLE AQUEDUCT. 



404 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

chasm that is narrowest, being about seventy feet in depth and 
not over thirty (I should think) in breadth ; and it is spanned 
by the quaintest structure of masonwork for a bridge that ever 
leaped across a ravine, being a double arch, one of which car- 
ries an aqueduct, from which the water trickles down the steep, 
fern-hung walls of stone, and patters far below into the water 
beneath. Among many rough sketches of Mexican scenery 
contained in a portfolio stolen from me in the city of Mexico, 
was one of this old bridge ; and the only consolation I ever got 
from this loss was the reflection that among other papers then 
lost was a particularly caustic description of the Mexican him- 
self, drawn as from the standpoint of a, decided pessimist. 

The greatest attraction in town, save one, is the " Garden 
of Laborde." In the year 1743, a poor youth named Laborde 
came to Mexico, where eventually he gained immense wealth, 
twice making, and once losing, a vast fortune, which at his death 
he gave to the Church. In Cuernavaca he built a buen retiro, a 
pleasure garden, on a more magnificent scale than any since the 
time of the Aztec and Tezcocan monarchs. This magnificent 
work of a century ago is still in good preservation here, and is 
shown to visitors, who are admitted at the cost of a real each. 
The grounds adjoin a church and convent, founded by Laborde, 
that now are going to ruin, and run back from one of the princi- 
pal streets of the town to the brink of the western ravine. At 
the angles of the high and massive walls bellevues arise, com- 
manding extensive and beautiful prospects, directly above the 
barranca, overlooking its winding course and the great sweep 
of mountain and plain to the south and to the west. To these 
bellevues broad stone ways lead up from the centre of the garden, 
covered with hard plaster, painted in red and white, bordered 
with stone pillars supporting vases of flowers. The grand fea- 
ture of this garden, with its palms and ferns, its choice exotics 
and profusest vegetation, is the central lakelet in a stone basin 
five hundred feet long, with artificial islets containing magueys 
and tropical plants. There is water enough stored here for the 
supply of a small town ; it gushes out everywhere, in fountains, 
into reservoirs of hewn stone, and is guided in rivulets to the feet 



A JOURNEY IN A DILIGENCE. 405 

of golden-fruited mangos and oranges. What a paradise it must 
have been in the time of its owner, the fortunate miner, and 
what a delightful retreat for the unctuous padres who subse- 
quently came into possession of it ! Above the trees towers the 
dome of the old church, and alleys covered over by giant roses 
and grape-vines lead up to the refectory of the convent, where 
once the good monks regaled themselves. 

After the subjugation of its original possessors, Cuernavaca 
attracted to itself many Spaniards, but none was so successful as 
the Marquis, Cortes the Conqueror, who here built his country 
residence, — in fact, established himself here, devoting himself 
to agricultural pursuits with an ardor only equalled by that with 
which he had pursued the Indians a few years before. Go down 
the street leading to the eastern part of the town, and there you 
will find El Palacio de Cortes, the Castle of Cortes, the verita- 
ble building which he built for his own dwelling, and in which 
he planned the cultivation of his ample estate, and later the dis- 
covery of the Gulf of California and the peninsula. To him the 
planters were indebted for the introduction of Merino sheep, it 
is said, and for the first sugar-cane that ever lifted its tasselled 
head beneath the sun of Mexico. It was right here, in this vale 
of Cuernavaca, that these things transpired, three centuries and 
a half ago ; and not only the old castle, with battlemented roof 
and arched entrances, remains, yet in good preservation, to re- 
mind us of the industry of Cortes, but the valley plains are wav- 
ing billows of green and succulent cane. The castle itself, now 
occupied as a municipal building, rises directly above the eastern 
barranca, and from the upper corridor, where are the halls of 
justice, is a grand view of the town, with its three large churches, 
its stone houses, and its gardens. Eastward are many lovely 
cabins, just peeping out of gardens of fruit trees, a varied carpet 
of green from which a dome protrudes here and there, and the 
plains sweep away below. This was a well-chosen spot, for it 
commands not only the valley and the mountain passes, but 
views extending away east to Popocatapetl. 

There are vast sugar estates below the town, some of the ha- 
ciendas dating from the period of the conquest, and producing 



406 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

a million pounds each of sugar annually, it is said, besides 
coffee and cacao. These haciendas have great mills equipped 
with the best machinery known for crushing the cane, evaporat- 
ing and crystallizing the juice, and distilling rum therefrom. In 
themselves, they do not cover a great stretch of territory, but 
monopolize all the fertile land in the entire region. What I 
would say is, that there is not the faintest show of an oppor- 
tunity for foreign capital or energy to work to advantage in or 
near the valley of Cuernavaca. And this statement will apply 
in a measure to nearly every portion of Mexico, especially as 
regards operations in agriculture. 

One morning — it was the ist of June — my clerical friend 
and myself went down among the coffee groves, and were di- 
rected to search for birds in a near plantation, to reach which 
we passed through a nicely cultivated field of sweet potatoes, 
and then followed a wall and an irrigating ditch to the banana 
and plantain forest. Ah, the beauty of these gardens of plan- 
tains, which fully realize one's idea of an Eden in the tropics ! 
Nothing else grows beneath them, — nothing there but their 
great silken, banana-like leaves, hanging from the smooth stems, 
arching over you, and perhaps trailing on the ground. 

We crossed, later, a deep barranca, and came to a village 
hidden in trees, where streamlets gurgled through the streets, 
and the gardens were full of flowers. In the yard of one of the 
cabins we beheld a phenomenon which we could not account 
for, — a tree with bare limbs ejecting fine streams of water 
which fell in spray. I wondered at it, but accepted the fact 
that the tree did it, and was about putting it down in my note- 
book, — " Great discovery ; wonderful weeping-tree of Cuerna- 
vaca." But just as we were going away, I thought I saw 
something move, and by attentive examination made out an 
insect called there the cliicJiarra {Cicada spumaria, or harvest- 
fly). The tree was covered with them, squirting in all direc- 
tions, and giving to it the strange appearance that had attracted 
our attention. There was something that might have been 
published as a botanical curiosity changed into merely an insect 
phenomenon ! These insects were old acquaintances, after all, 



A JOURNEY IN A DILIGENCE. 407 

as I had seen them in abundance in the island of Tobago, near 
the coast of South America, where they make a noise so much 
like the distant whistle of a locomotive that I have often jumped 
from some solitary path, on hearing one suddenly start up, 
thinking a steam-engine was close behind me. 

In directing our steps toward a chapel called Chapultepec, 
we had to cross a field in which some men were working, and 
waded through a rich crop of alfalfa. A dog barked at us, but 
the owner did not " sing out," as a Northern farmer would have 
done, " What ye doin' in that grass? " He saluted us politely, 
and kindly pointed out to us the road to take. And so we went 
on, through lanes bordered by flowering trees, until we reached 
the chapel, into the tower of which we climbed for a view, and 
found a stone there with the date ano de 1739, — pretty old for 
the United States, but recent for Mexico. I gave some boys 
there a centavo each, at which a smile rippled all over them, and 
when we came to leave, they bade us a most affectionate good 
by. I remarked that they seemed like very good boys, but 
my friend the missionary objected, saying that they were muy 
fanaticos ; that the priest was their only god, — El padre es el 
dios del pueblo ; that it was a bad place, where they frequently 
killed the Protestants, — Ellos mataron los Protestantes. It may 
have been so, though I saw nothing but peace and good will ; 
or it may be that he, being a Protestant Mexican, is prejudiced. 
But he said they threatened to kill him, only a year ago, and I 
suppose I might feel the same, if they had offered to kill me. 

My friend risked his life pretty freely, at all events, in going 
about with me, for there was scarcely a place of interest which 
we did not visit. On June 2d we set out for the famous, yet 
little known ruins of Xochicalco, about the locality of which 
my guide knew as little as myself, yet he confidently engaged 
to pilot me to the spot. 

The road we were following was the famous "Acapulco Trail," 
leading from that part of the Pacific to the city of Mexico, and 
which has been worn by the feet of countless mules and burros 
for three hundred years and over. It is a twelve-days journey 
from the capital to Acapulco, and one must procure his entire 



408 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

outfit in the city he leaves, unless he chance to fall in with a con- 
ducta on the route, which is of rare occurrence. That picturesque 
port of Acapulco has of late years fallen into disuse, since new 
ways have been opened across the continent, but in olden times 
it was a busy and a celebrated maritime city. To it went, and 
from it sailed, all those grand old galleons, which performed 
their portion of the voyage between the Indies and Spain, six 
months, sometimes, "on the voyage between Manilla and the 
Mexican coast. Arrived there, the rich freightage was trans- 
ported overland by a thousand mules and donkeys, and such 
portion as was not sold in Mexico reshipped at Vera Cruz for 
Spain. Sometimes the cargo reached the value of two million 
dollars ; and as but one ship arrived in the year, it was looked 
for by merchants and mariners along the entire coast of Mex- 
ico. It brought calicoes and muslins, silks, jewels, and spices, 
and carried back silver, cochineal, cacao, and monks and priests 
as passengers. Bret Harte gives the best picture of those golden 
days in his " Lost Galleon " : — 

" In sixteen hundred and forty-one, 
The regular yearly galleon, 
Laden with odorous gums and spice, 
India cotton and India rice, 
And the richest silks of far Cathay, 
Was due at Acapulco Bay. 

The trains were waiting outside the walls, 
The wives of sailors thronged the town, 
The traders sat by their empty stalls, 
And the Viceroy himself came down ; 
The bells in the tower were all atrip, 
Te Deums were on each father's lip, 
The limes were ripening in the sun 
For the sick of the coming galleon." 

More ancient than the institution of trade between Mexico 
and the Indies was the object of our search that morning in 
early June. " Six leagues from Cuernavaca," says a writer of 
forty years ago, "lies a cerro, three hundred feet in height, 
which, with the ruins that cover it, is known as Xochicalco, or 
the ' Hill of Flowers.' The base of this eminence is surrounded 



A JOURNEY IN A DILIGENCE. 



409 



by the very distinct remains of a deep and wide ditch ; its sum- 
mit is attained by five spiral terraces ; the walls that support 
them are built of stone joined by cement, and are still quite 
perfect ; and at regular distances, as if to buttress these terraces, 
there are remains of bulwarks shaped like the bastions of a for- 
tification. The summit of the hill is a wide esplanade, on the 
eastern side of which are still perceptible three truncated cones, 
resembling the tumuli found among many similar ruins in Mex- 




EL CASTILLO, XOCHICALCO. 

ico. The Castillo, on the top of the last terrace, is a rectangular 
building, measuring above the plinth sixty-four feet long by 
fifty-eight deep on the western points, and faces in exact corre- 
spondence with the cardinal points." 

At a little hamlet called Xochitl, we found Sefior Carpentero, 
a brother Methodist, who lived in a thatched hut with the eaves 
but three feet from the ground, and who furnished us with a 
guide for the pyramid. The guide demanded fifty cents for his 
services, expecting, apparently, that I would be deterred from 
my purpose by such an exorbitant price ; but I closed the bar- 



4.IO TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

gain at once, and he mounted his jackass, hung a calabash of 
water to his saddle, and led the way to the sugar hacienda of 
Xochitl, whence we took a path among the hills of Xochicalco. 
All the fields were thickly covered with volcanic debris, and the 
open shaft of many a mine showed that silver had been found 
here in small quantity. The heat was intense, and I was in 
agony from it for nearly two hours, until we reached the great 
hill, and slowly climbed the terraced slopes. 

As this hill commands the whole valley, save for another cerro 
to the east, a glorious prospect is spread around, but chiefly of 
barren hill and plain, with two lovely lakes lying to the south, 
and barrancas everywhere dividing the surface. This cerro is 
directly north from the valley of Mexico, and the lights of the 
people who occupied it must have guided the ancient Aztecs as 
they came from their capital, going south, for it is in full view 
from the mountains. " The stones of the crowning structure 
are laid upon each other without cement, and kept in place by 
their weight alone ; and as the sculpture of a figure is seen to 
run over several of them, there can be no doubt that the bassi 
rilievi were cut after the pyramid was erected." Stones seven 
feet in length by nearly three in breadth are seen here, and all 
the great blocks of porphyry which composed the building, and 
perhaps encased the entire cerro, were brought from a distance, 
and borne up a hill three hundred feet in height. 

As a ruin little visited, and standing apart from every other 
group in Mexico, not only isolated by position, but unique in 
its structure and carvings, this Castillo of Xochicalco deserves 
minute description. It was mentioned by Humboldt, perhaps 
visited by him, as he came up to the Mexican valley from 
Acapulco, and must have passed within a few leagues of it on 
the road ; but the last writer who refers to it wrote over thirty 
years ago. He says : — 

" Who the builders of this pyramid were, no one can tell. 
There is no tradition of them, or of their temple. When first 
discovered, no one knew to what it had been devoted, or who 

had built it. It had outlasted both history and memory 

No one who examines the figures with which it is covered can 



A JOURNEY IN A DILIGENCE. 



4 II 



fail to connect the designs with the people who dwelt and wor- 
shipped in the palaces and temples of Uxmal and Palenque." 

After we had rested and had examined the massive structure 
at the summit, myself and the missionary crept over the hill by 
a narrow path, through thick bushes, and found a black hole 
leading underground into a great cavern. This cavern, or series 
of vaults, was partially explored by order of government, nearly 
fifty years ago ; but the superstitions of the Indians (who believe 
them haunted by the spirits of their ancestors) prevented a 
thorough examination. We investigated the chambers as far 




SCULPTURED FRAGMENT FROM PALENQUE. 



as we could by the aid of a sputtering candle, and were lost in 
wonder at their height and extent. The old explorers mention 
a " cupola " of cut stones, diminishing gradually in size as they 
neared the top, and forming a beautiful mosaic, with an aper- 
ture through the roof of the cavern, which was supposed to 
lead to the temple above. This we found in the centre of 
the main saloon, said to be ninety feet in length, but it was 
divested of its cut and wrought stone. Instead, we found that 
the walls and floor were covered with a very hard and smooth 
cement. 

Although these crypts may have connection with the temple 



412 



TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 



on the summit of the hill, yet the caves we entered, two in 
number, were in a cerrito, at a little distance from that support- 
ing the Castillo. Chill and damp were these caverns, though 
outside was the terrible heat of a Mexican midsummer noon. 
Scorpions and serpents were said to lurk here, — this is the ex- 
cuse the Indians gave for not wishing to explore the dark pas- 
sages, — yet we saw none. Doubtless, some one could find 
here sufficient to reward him for a week of arduous labor. We 
had not the time nor the money for exploration, and so we 
turned away from these grand ruins with reluctance. 

Of the journey back to Cuernavaca I recall little that would 
seem of interest, except a solitary Indian village, where the 
people seemed to shun us, and an ancient stone bridge, span- 
ning a deep ravine by a single arch, and just wide enough, 
without an inch to spare, for our horses to walk across it. My 
guide said it was made by the very ancient Indians, the same 
who built the Castillo, and was used by them on their pilgrim- 
ages to the valley of Mexico. It is not improbable, as its arch 
was not the true arch of the present day, but nearly approach- 
ing that seen in the Maya ruins of Yucatan, and its every aspect 
indicates great age, and a workmanship entirely different from 
Spanish or modern Mexican. 

It was a matter of great regret that I could not visit the great 
cave, called Cacahuamilpa, situated to the southwest of Cuerna- 
vaca some thirty miles, which is of unknown extent, though it 
has been explored for a distance of three or four leagues. Its 
existence was unknown previous to 1835, when a criminal used 
it as a place of refuge, and it was subsequently explored. Cele- 
brated travellers have visited this famous cave, and only a few 
years ago a great cavalcade of Mexican notables, headed by 
the President, made a journey to the place, and met with 
numerous accidents and incidents. The entrance to this enor- 
mous cavern is about one hundred feet in width, the passage 
descending to a vast gallery divided fantastically into different 
salas, or halls, to which the different fancies of travellers have 
given different names. The first is the Sala del Chivo, or the 
Goat Saloon, from an agglomeration of stalactites in the shape 



A JOURNEY IN A DILIGENCE. 



413 



of an enormous goat, which was the terror of all the Indians 
until some one broke off and carried away its head. 

Next is the Sala del Muerto, or Saloon of the Dead, because 
in it was found the skeleton of a man partially covered with a 
crystalline deposit. The Saloon of the Palm, El Tronca de la 
Palma, contains a glorious stalagmite of a palm white as ala- 
baster, and thence a flight of natural steps lead into the Saloon 
of the Cauliflowers, or the Chandeliers. In the Organ Gallery, 
Sala de los Organos, there is " an amphitheatre with regular 




CAVERN OF CACAHUAMILPA. 

benches, surmounted by a great organ, whose pipes, when 
struck, give forth a deep sound." And — it has been declared 
by every one who has been there — all these glorious galleries 
are adorned by nature's hand with objects of such beauty that 
no description can do them justice. 

Forms of bewildering beauty greet the gaze of the explorer 
everywhere, and to one who delights in the strange and weird, 
the trip to Cacahuamilpa, difficult though it is, would be an ex- 
tremely profitable undertaking. Guides can be obtained at the 
neighboring village, with various colored lights and fireworks to 



414 



TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 



illuminate the crystal walls, and scanty information may some- 
times be extracted from the innkeepers of Cuernavaca. The 
best account of it I have been able to find is contained in 
Madam Calderon's "Life in Mexico," and in Una Excursion a la 
Caverna de Cacahuamilpa, by Sefior Antonio Cubas. The last- 
named author is a faithful and picturesque writer, a geographer 
and statistician. He makes mention of Cuernavaca as one of 
the loveliest retreats of the tierra caliente, and calls attention to 
the gardens of Maximilian, within a league of the town. 




XXI. 

THE MEXICAN RAILWAY MOVEMENT. 

ONCE in the city of Mexico, we find ourselves at the start- 
ing-place and the objective point of nearly all the railways 
of the republic, from the multitude of which it is somewhat dif- 
ficult to determine where all are coming from, and where they 
will find terminal stations. 

The growth and development of these great lines has had an 
important bearing upon the progress of Mexico and the expan- 
sion of her commerce, — not to speak of their influence in 
promoting commercial and social intercourse with the United 
States, — and without a chapter exclusively devoted to rail- 
roads this work would be incomplete. It may, however, be 
passed over by the general reader, without interrupting the 
continuity of my narrative of travel. 

It was in the year 1837 that the first government decree was 
issued granting a concession for the building of a railroad, from 
the city of Mexico to Vera Cruz ; but the projector was unable 
to construct any portion of the road, and the grant was declared 
forfeited. On the 1st of May, 1842, an exclusive privilege was 
given for establishing a line across the isthmus of Tehuantepec, 
and on the 31st of the same month Santa Anna, then occupy- 
ing the chair of the Executive, decreed the re-establishment of 
an old duty at the customs, called averia, or average, the pro- 
duct of which tax (two per cent additional over and above all 
import duties) was to be given to promote the building of a 
railroad inland from Vera Cruz. 

This road was commenced, but the first really energetic work 
looking to the connection of the coast and the table land was 
in 1857, when Don Antonio Escandon secured the right to con- 



416 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

struct a line from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific. Revolu- 
tions disturbed the country, so that several years elapsed before 
active labor was entered upon, but in 1863 Senor Escandon was 
secured in his concession, and a consolidated fund of the pub- 
lic debt was created, amounting to $8,000,000, bearing five per 
cent interest, the capital to be paid up at the end of twenty- 
five years. 

The war of the intervention prevented operations until, in 
1864, Senor Escandon transferred his concession to the " Impe- 
rial Mexican Railway Company," which transfer was approved 
by Maximilian in January, 1865. After these various delays, 
work was begun at either end, and on the restoration of the 
republic one hundred and thirty-four miles were found com- 
pleted. Although, upon the resumption of power by Juarez, 
the concession was declared forfeited, " for having contracted 
with a government seeking the overthrow of the Mexican repub- 
lic," yet, in May, 1867, a decree was issued restoring its rights, 
and in November of that year work was resumed. Under the 
general direction of Mr. Buchanan, C. E., the rugged country 
between Orizaba and the plateau was entered ; in September, 
1869, the branch line from Apizaco to Puebla was inaugurated, 
and the section from Vera Cruz to Atoyac, fifty miles in length, 
was opened in 1870. The important city of Orizaba was placed 
in connection with the coast in September, 1872, and on the 
1st of January, 1873, the entire line was completed from the 
Gulf to the city of Mexico, and solemnly inaugurated by Senor 
Lerdo de Tejada, President of the republic. 1 

The advantages resulting from the completion of the " Mexi- 
can Railway," as this first. iron road in the country was called, 
were so manifest, that it soon seemed equally desirable that 
Mexico should have rail connection with the United States. To 
this end many persons sought government aid. Under the wise 
rule of Lerdo and the progressive administration of Diaz, all en- 
terprises of this character were encouraged. Capital was eager 
to invest in railways in a country that possessed neither canals 

1 See History of the Mexican Railway, Mexico, 1876; andZw Ferrocarriles Mexi- 
canos, Mexico, 1881. 




RAILWAYS AT THE CAPITAL. 

27 



THE MEXICAN RAILWAY MOVEMENT. 



419 



nor navigable rivers, and under a government which seemed dis- 
posed to foster all undertakings which promised the development 
of its internal resources. In 1881, in a pamphlet entitled Los 
Ferrocarriles Mexicanos, an eminent Mexican published a list of 
forty-two concessions, — since increased by five others, — few 
of which had subventions (or government aid) less than $8,000 
per kilometre. Many of these are small concessions, several 
will fail to be built from lack of capital, and most of them 
have been merged into the greater lines, such as the Central 
and the National. 

The concessions granted by the Mexican government, up to 
date, are as follows : — 



Name of Railroad. 



i Tehuacan to Esperanza 

2 Celaya to Leon and Gua- 

najuato 

3 Mexico to Toluca and 

Cuautitlan 

4 Salamanca to Pacific 

Coast 

5 Ometusco to Pachuca 

and Tulancingo 

6 San Luis Potosi to Tan- 

toyuquita... 

7 Lagos and Guadalajara 

to San Bias 

8 Celaya to San Juan del 

Rio 

9 Tehuacan to Puerto An- 

gel by Oaxaca 

10 Vera Cruz to Alvarado.. 

11 Tantoyuquita to boun- 

dary line between San 
Luis and Tamaulipas . . . 

12 Merida to Peto passing 

by Ticul andTekax .... 

13 Zacatecas to S. Luis, A- 

guascalientes, & Lagos 

14 Port of Manzanillo to To- 

nila 

15 Mexico to the bank of 

the Amacuzac 

16 Matamoras Izucar 

17 San Martin Texmelucan 

18 Cuautitlan to Salto 

19 Tehuantepec 

20 Matamoros to Monterey 

21 Mexico to Acapulco 

22 Chihuahua to Villa del 

Paso or that of Ojinaga 

23 Patzcuaro to Moreliaand 

Salamanca. 



Date of 
Concession. 



Aug. 14, 1877 

Dec. 21, 1877 

Dec. 22, 1877 

Jan. 28, 1878 

Feb. 2, 1878 

" 14, 1878 

" 27, 1878 

" 28, 1878 

Mar. 22, 1878 
" 25, 1878 



" 28, 1878 

" 28, 1878 

" 30, 1878 

April 16, 1878 
May 6, 1878 
Nov. 14, 1878 
April 2, 1879 
June 2, 1879 
June 7, 1880 
1880 

July 9, 1880 

" 15, 1S80 



To what Parties 
granted. 



General Government 
Gov't of Guanajuato 



Gov't of Michoacan 

of Hidalgo 

San Luis Potosi 

Jalisco 

Queretaro 



Oaxaca 

Vera Cruz 



Tamaulipas .... 

Yucatan 

Zacatecas, etc. 
Colima 



Morelos 

Puebla 

General Government 

Toluca Company 

Edward Learned 

Gov't of Tamaulipas 
" Guerrreo 



Chihuahua 
Michoacan . 



.2 ^ 

hflg 

^2 


.2 " 


5° 




125 


8000 


120 


8000 


660 


8000 


92 


8000 


209 


8000 


737 


Sooo 


104 


8000 


519 
132 


8000 
8000 


i°S 


8000 


126 


6000 


448 


8000 


104 


8000 


395 

57 


8000 
8000 


37 
63 


7000 


200 
400 
465 


7500 
8000 
8000 


35° 


8000 


169 


8000 



Total Sub- 
vention to 
each Line, 
due on Com- 
pletion. 


V 

Ml 

3 

O 


2 298,500 


S. 


1,000,000 


N. 


832,000 


N. 


5,2So,ooo 


N. 


736 ,000 


N. 


1,672,000 


N. 


5,896,000 


N. 


832,000 


N. 


4,152,000 
1,056,000 


N. 
N. 


840,000 


N. 


756,000 


N. 


3,584,000 


N. 


832,000 


N. 


3,160,000 
456,000 


N. 
N. 
S. 
N. 
S. 




1,500,000 


3,200,000 


N. 


3,720,000 


JM. 


2 , Soo,ooo 


N. 


1,352,000 


N. 



1 S. is for Standard gauge, 1.435 metres in width ; N. for Narrow gauge, 0.914 metre in width. 

2 Total cost in dollars. 



420 



TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 



Name of Railroad. 


Date of 

Concession. 


To what Parties 
granted. 


.s <s 

M S 

c 


a 

O 4> 

Iftl 


Total Sub- 
vention to 
each Line, 

due on 
Completion. 


M 

B 
O 

N. 

N. 

N. 

N. 

S. 

N. 
N. 
N. 
N. 

N. 

S. 

N. 

N. 
N. 

S. 

N. 
N. 

N. 

N. 

N. 
S. 
S. 
S. 
S. 
S. 


24 Port of Altata to Culia- 

25 Anton Lizardo to Hua- 

tulco and Puerto Angel 

26 Jalapa to San Andres 


Aug. 16, 1880 
" 25, 1880 

Sept. 6, 1880 

" 7, 1880 

" 8, 1880 

" 13, 1880 

" 14, 1880 
" 14, 18S0 

" 14, 1880 

" 14, 1880 
" 15, 1880 

Nov. 27. 1880 

" 27, 1880 

Dec. is, 18S0 

" 15, 1880 

Jan. 10, 1880 

" 19, 1881 

Feb. 2, 1881 

" 3, 1881 
Sept. 9, 1880 

June, 1 881 




440 
453 

80 
5° 

2435 

915 

i°43 

65 

5* 

142 

457 
342 


8000 
8000 

8000 
8000 

9500 

7000 
6500 
8000 
8000 

6000 

7000 
8000 

None 

6500 

None 
6000 
8000 

8000 

8000 

6000 
6000 

None 

5000 


3,520,000 
3,600,000 

640,000 
400,000 

23,132,500 

640,500 

6,779,500 

520,000 

408,000 

852,000 

3,199,000 
2,736,000 


" Puebla & Vera 


27 San Agustin to Huehue- 


" Hidalgo 

Limited Company x 

Co. represented by f 
Sullivan & Palmer | 

" Puebla 


28 Mexican Central Rail- 

way Company 

29 Mexican National Con- 


30 San Martin to Railroad 

of Hidalgo & Tlascala 

31 Puebla to San Marcos... 

32 Merida to Kalkini and 




33 Guaymas to the Northern 

Frontier (Sonora Road) 

34 Patzcuaro to the Pacific 

35 Toluca to Mineral Dis- 

trict of Ixtapa del Oro. 

36 Connection between Te- 

pexpan and Irolo 

37 Coal-fields of the Rio 


Limited Company 2 . . 
Gov't of Michoacan.. 






38 Merida to Valladolid 

39 Jalapa to Vera Cruz 

40 Salto to Maravatio by 

Tepeji and Jilotepec... 

41 S. Luis Potosi to the 1 

Central in Aguascali- V 
entes ) 

42 Compania (Station) and 

Villa of Tlalmanalco... 

43 Mexican Southern 3 


Pedro del Valle 

( Government of S. 
< Luis & Aguascali- 


160 
114 

15° 


960,000 
912,000 


1,200,000 


Matias Romero 
J.Gould&F.deGresse 
Internat. Const. Co. 
J. B. Frisbie 
















May 23, 1881 


De Prida& Pombo. . 







The Mexican railroads, completed and in process of construc- 
tion, or projected as outlined on the general map, are : — 

1. The Sonora Railroad, from Benson in Arizona to Guay- 
mas on the Gulf of California, 352 miles in length. Road com- 
pleted. Connects (via short link over the Southern Pacific) 
with the great Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe system. 

2. The Mexican Central, the main line, about 1,215 miles in 
length, from El Paso, on the Rio Grande, to the city of Mexico, 
with branch lines to Tampico, on the Gulf of Mexico, and San 
Bias, on the Pacific. 

1 Represented by S. Camacho and R. Guzman. 

2 Represented by S. Camacho and D. Fergusson. 

3 United under one management. 






THE MEXICAN RAILWAY MOVEMENT. 42 1 

3. International, extension of the Southern Pacific and " Sun- 
set Route " system (from San Francisco to New Orleans) from 
Eagle Pass, on the Rio Grande, to the Pacific, probably, tap- 
ping the Central at or near Durango, receiving much valuable 
through traffic from the south, and sending a direct line to San 
Luis Potosi. 

4. Mexican National, between Laredo, on the Rio Grande 
(Texas), and Mexico City, with line also from latter point to 
the Pacific at Manzanillo ; narrow gauge ; about 2,000 miles, 
including all concessions. 

5. Mexican Oriental, an extension of the vast and compre- 
hensive Missouri Pacific system southward from St. Louis. 
Shortest and most direct route (when completed) to the capital, 
where, or at Puebla, it is to connect with the Mexican South- 
ern (Grant road) and extend to the isthmus of Tehuantepec. 
Total length, about 1,400 miles. 

6. Mexican Railway, from Vera Cruz to city of Mexico ; 
length, with branches, about 300 miles. Finished in 1873. The 
pioneer road of Mexico. 

7. Mexican Southern (projected) from the port of Anton 
Lizardo, south of Vera Cruz, to city of Oaxaca and to Tehuan- 
tepec, with connections with Puebla and city of Mexico ; total 
length (proposed), about 500 miles; consolidated with the 
Oriental. 

8. Interoceanic, a proposed narrow-gauge, partly built, be- 
tween Vera Cruz and Acapulco, of which the Morelos road 
is the western portion. 

9. Tehuantepec, crossing the isthmus at the narrowest part, 
a little over a hundred miles ; formerly granted to an American 
company, but retroceded to the Mexican government. 

10. Yucatan railways: from Progreso (port) to Merida, 26 
miles long, broad gauge, steel rails, all equipped ; from Merida to 
Peto (building), narrow gauge ; Calkini and Campeche (started) ; 
and the " Eastern Railway," from Merida to Valladolid, a much- 
needed road. 

First in point of historic importance is the line known as the 



422 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

Mexican Railway. 1 This is the representative road, having been 
begun before the republic was well prepared for the iron horse, 
and having struggled through sixteen years of revolutions and 
civil strife. Commenced in 1857, it was not finished till 1873, 
and cost — owing to the engineering difficulties encountered and 
the disturbed state of the country — an immense sum, its present 
liabilities amounting (including stock) to over $39,000,000. This 
railway has had, says a writer on Mexico, a continuous history 
of vicissitude, — enough to crush out any ordinary enterprise. 
Its construction was ruinously delayed and frequently suspended, 
and its expenditures have been extravagant, probably beyond all 
precedent. 

As it is owned entirely in England, its success does not 
directly affect Americans. Still, as it is often quoted by 
American speculators as an instance of successful Mexican 
railway enterprise, it would be well to inquire what has con- 
tributed to make it profitable. Its cost was greatly in excess 
of what it should have been, — a loss partially balanced by 
the monopoly it has had, and still keeps, of the transportation of 
railway material from coast to capital. It should be borne in 
mind that it is now built, equipped, complete, and in the hands 
of sagacious managers, who honestly administer its earnings. 
These were, for the year 1873, $2,117,553, and the net profits, 
$826,990; for 1879 (material for other roads now coming into 
the country), $3,257,235 ; net profits, $1,795,713 ; for 1880, total 
receipts, $3,709,910; profits, $2,147,589 ; for 1881, $4,831,215 ; 
net profits, $2,758,729. These estimates, compiled from various 
sources, will indicate to the reader the growth and ultimate 
consequence of this railroad. 

To complete the picture, the following comparison is given, 
elicited from the eminent Mexican, Sefior Romero, by the 
adverse criticisms of a writer in a popular magazine : " As a test 
of the capabilities of this road, let us make a comparison between 
the earnings of the Vera Cruz Railroad and roads similarly sit- 
uated in the United States. Probably the two lines combining 
more nearly than any others similar conditions are the Union 

1 For description of this route, see Chapter XI., " From Coast to Capital." 



THE MEXICAN RAILWAY MOVEMENT. 423 

Pacific and the Central Pacific, having heavy mountain grades, 
long stretches of high table-lands and sea-coast connections. 
An examination of the official reports show that, in 1880, the 
gross earnings per mile of these three roads were respectively 
as follows: Union Pacific, $11,304; Central Pacific, $7,818; 
Vera Cruz, $12,662. The net earnings per mile were as fol- 
lows: Union Pacific, $6,168; Central Pacific, $3,913; Vera 
Cruz, $7,330. The reports for 1881 show the gross earnings 
per mile to be as follows: Union Pacific, $12,516; Central 
Pacific, $8,758; Vera Cruz, $16,489; — and the net earnings for 
the same year: Union Pacific, $6,207; Central Pacific, $3,593; 
Vera Cruz, $10,098. It will thus be seen that, for the last year, 
the Vera Cruz road made a net earning of six per cent upon a 
capital of $168,000 per mile. A very liberal estimate would not 
place the cost of construction to-day at more than $50,000 per 
mile, upon which the present net earning would be a return of 
about twenty per cent. If we accept the Vera Cruz road as an 
evidence of what may be expected in the working of the railroads 
now being constructed by American companies, the foregoing 
exhibit is certainly not calculated to discourage American in- 
vesters in those enterprises." 

Apologists for the road do not fail to call attention to the fact, 
that the above figures represent the income of a line, including 
its short branch, less than three hundred miles in length. But 
it should be remembered that they are the earnings of a road 
having a monopoly of all traffic between the largest city of 
Mexico and its only eastern port, and with three fourths of this 
amount derived from the transportation of material for the con- 
struction of other roads. 

Passing through the richest portion of the republic in agri- 
cultural wealth, — through every climatic zone, in its toilsome 
march up from the coast to the high plateaux, — it should have 
developed the resources of the country vastly more than it has 
done, for everything it is possible to raise in Mexico can be pro- 
duced along its line. It is safe to say, that for at least five years 
the Mexican Railroad will pay enormous dividends, and for ten 
years will do a profitable business, after which the competing 



424 



TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 



lines now in progress will 
reduce its income so that 
it will do no more than 
hold its own. By that 
time, however, it will have 
made up for all its losses 
in past years, and will 
manage, with its subsidy, 
to keep its rolling stock in 
order, its road in repair, 
and its stockholders in 
easy circumstances. 

The railway backbone 
of Mexico, traversing the 
dorsal ridge of the plateau 
from the city of Mexico 
to the Rio Grande, is the 
Central, running north- 
wardly from the capital, 
with branches right and 
left, to the Gulf of Mexico 
and the Pacific, and with 
feeders out to all impor- 
tant points. 

The longest of any Mex- 
ican line, — direct, 1,215 
miles, — it has also the 
largest subsidy, $9,500 
per kilometre, amounting 
to about $32,000,000. It 
runs through a country 

rich in mineral and agricultural resources, and connects the 

largest centres of population in the south, although it crosses 

certain areas of sterile plains in the north. 

The company was incorporated in 1880, under the General 

Railroad Laws of Massachusetts. " The capital stock is fixed 




THE MEXICAN RAILWAY MOVEMENT. 425 

at $32,000 per mile ($20,000 per kilometre), according to the 
declaration of November 29, 1880; and the mortgage bonds 
and obligations shall not exceed an equal sum per mile, and 
these quantities shall not be increased without the previous con- 
sent of the Federal Executive of Mexico. The capital stock 
is divided into shares of the par value of $100 each, transferable 
upon the books of the company under such regulations as the 
General Board of Directors may prescribe." (By-Laws, Art. I.) 

Its obligations were, that the line from Mexico to Leon should 
be finished by December 31, 1882 (completed in advance of 
time specified) ; that to the Pacific, within five years ; to Paso 
del Norte, within eight years after completion of road from 
Mexico to Leon. A bond of $150,000 to be deposited with the 
government in the city of Mexico. 

The history of this road, in connection with that of the Mexi- 
can (Vera Cruz) and that of the National (Palmer-Sullivan), 
well illustrates the advance of the railway movement in Mex- 
ico, after the initiatory attempt had so signally succeeded. The 
following statement is chiefly taken from the Report of the 
company, but has been verified in detail by the author of this 
work. This road was commenced in June, 1880, with a force 
of three hundred men, grading northwardly from the city of 
Mexico. The railway concession provides a subsidy of about 
$15,200 per kilometre, "with the right to import materials for 
construction, repair, and operation for fifteen years, and exemp- 
tion from all taxation for fifty years after the completion of all 
the lines, and authorizes the construction and operation for 
ninety-nine years of a telegraph line and of a standard-gauge 
railway from the city of Mexico, through the capitals and cen- 
tres of population of the interior States, to Paso del Norte, and 
from any point on that line through Guadalajara to the Pacific 
coast." In addition, the company bought the Guanajuato Rail- 
way, the concessions made to the States of Chihuahua, Aguas- 
calientes, and San Luis Potosi, besides obtaining another to the 
port of Tampico. " The subsidy is payable in certificates, in 
which merchants are compelled to pay eight per cent of all 
duties at the frontier and maritime custom-houses." 



426 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

The Mexican Central runs through the centre of the table land, 
which already supports a population of nearly four million in- 
habitants. The following is a list of the cities upon the line, not 
including those of less than eight thousand inhabitants, with 
their population, 1 the State capitals being marked with stars. 

*Aguascalientes 35,000 

*Chihuahua 16,000 

*Durango 28,000 

*Guanajuato 63,000 

* Guadalajara 92»%1S 

*Mexico 260,000 

*Queretaro 48,000 

*San Luis Potosi 45,000 

*Zacatecas 64,000 

Paso del Norte 8,000 

San Juan del Rio 1 1,000 

Tula 10,000 

Salamanca I 9>45o 

Irapuato 2 i?3ii 

Lagos 20,000 

Celaya 30,000 

Silao 38,000 

Sayula 16,000 

Tepic . 14,000 

Salvatierra 8,000 

Leon 82,000 

930,636 

In round numbers, probably a million. 

The feasibility of this vast project has already been demon- 
strated, in the almost triumphal advance from the valley of 
Mexico to the valley of the Rio Grande. Of the region traversed 
Humboldt says : "So regular is the great plateau (formed exclu- 
sively by the broad, undulating, flattened crest of the Mexican 
Andes), and so gentle are the slopes where depressions occur, 
that the journey from Mexico to Santa Fe, New Mexico (about 
twelve hundred miles), might be performed in a four-wheeled 
vehicle The two extremities, Mexico City and Santa Fe\ 

1 Verified from the Anuario of Mexico for 1S82. 



THE MEXICAN RAILWAY MOVEMENT. 427 

are respectively 7,462 and 7,047 feet above the sea; but the ele- 
vation at El Paso del Norte is only 3,800 feet. The table lands 
of Chihuahua are from 4,000 to 5,000 feet." 

Exceedingly rough hill and mountain work presents itself, 
first, in securing egress from the valley of Mexico itself, and 
again in the States of Guanajuato, Zacatecas, and Durango. 
Intervening between these ridges are broad valleys and immense 
plains, which offer few obstacles to the railway constructor of 
the present day. The region, throughout the entire distance 
traversed by the trunk line, is the healthiest in the world ; but 
the coast termini of its Gulf and Pacific branches are in a cli- 
mate not noted for its salubrity. 

In the Statistics of the Republic of Mexico 1 for 1880, Sefior 
Barcena, a high Mexican authority, thus describes the route : — 

" On leaving the city of Mexico, the road runs to the fertile 
valley of Tula, in which cereals are cultivated with great success, 
and to which come the agricultural productions of Ixmiquilpam, 
and of various warm regions found to the north of Mezquital, 
among the mountains of the State of Hidalgo. Here are also 
found various sorts of building and ornamental woods. On the 
road's advancing toward Queretaro it encounters the produc- 
tions of the valleys of Huichipam, San Juan del Rio, etc., where 
are cultivated, on a very large scale, the grains which now come 
to the market of Mexico City. From Queretaro the road enters 
the Bajio, an extensive and rich region, where every year are 
raised enormous crops of cereals. In these regions are raised 
many irrigation crops, since there is an ample supply of water 
in the dry season, coming from the tanks on the plantations. 
Besides, subterranean water is found at little depth, which facili- 
tates irrigation, and to this are due the vegetable gardens and 
the orchards of Leon and Salamanca. 

" From Leon the road will pass on to Lagos, where will be 
found an abundance of wheat and other grains, coming from the 
valley of Lagos itself, and from those of Arandes, Atotonilco, 
Tecuan, etc. In following the general route, the road touches 
the important city of Lagos, and afterward San Juan, Jalos, 

1 Estadistica de la Republica Mexkana, Tomo II. pp. 442 et seq. 






428 



TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 



Tepatitlan, and Zapotlanejo, important towns, with good and 
varied agricultural productions. The connection with San Juan 
de los Lagos will be very favorable to the railroad at the 

period of the fair in that 
city, which is attended 
by the traders of near 
and distant districts. 

"The advantages 
which will result from 
the railway reaching the 
city of Guadalajara need 
no argument, since it is 
the second city of the 
republic, — important by 
reason of its population 
of more than eighty 
thousand souls, its mer- 
cantile and industrial re- 
sources, and, still more, 
by reason of its position 
in regard to the Pacific 
ports. 

"The concession gives 
the company liberty to 
select the terminus of 
the line, and thus it 
has an ample contour 
of coast to choose from. 
By selecting the port of 
San Bias for its Pacific 
terminus, the line will 
start westward from Gua- 
dalajara, profiting from 
the grains, sugars, cof- 
fee, brandy and mescal wine, etc., which are produced in its 
vicinity, as well as in the rich valley lands of Ameca, Ahua- 
luco, Etzatlan, Tequila, and Magdalena. The road will pass 




THE MEXICAN RAILWAY MOVEMENT. 429 

through the centre of a belt of fifteen leagues in average breadth, 
bounded by the Tololotlan and Ameca rivers. The agricultural 
production will be notably increased in this belt, so well suited 
to the culture of coffee, cotton, cane, and rice, and the rivers 
will be taken advantage of for the establishment of mills of vari- 
ous kinds. On the railway reaching Tepic, it will strike a town 
of considerable commercial importance, dealing in rich and 
abundant agricultural, mineral, and industrial products 

" We will now notice some of the mining centres on the 
line of the road. On reaching Tula (on the main line), the 
railroad can there receive the metals and ore which come from 
Actopan, Zimapan, the Cardinal, Jacala, and Encarnacion, as 
well as from the other mining districts of the northern region 
of the road. We have taken for granted that the mineral pro- 
ducts of Pachuca, Real del Monte, El Chico, etc., will come to 
the city of Mexico, which will be the centre of deposit and ex- 
port for the Mexican, the Central, the Construction Company's 
(Palmer and Sullivan), and the Southern railways. 

" At San Juan del Rio the Central road will receive a great 
part of the mineral productions of the Sierra Gorda, while the 
mines of Las Aguas, El Doctor, Maconi, Jalpam, Rio Blanco, 
and others, will receive a powerful impulse. The Las Aguas 
mine abounds in argentiferous veins, as is also the case in the 
celebrated ' Doctor ' mine, near which are found deposits of 
mercury and of anthracite coal. The whole of this region is an 
extensive mineral belt, which may be explored with the best 
results. To these productions must be added the excellent mar- 
bles of Vizarron, and the precious opals which are found so 
plentifully on the estate of Esperanza and in Amealco, at short 
distances from the line of the railway. 

" On approaching Guanajuato the road enters a metalliferous 
region of great importance, which is being actively worked. 
From Salamanca will be exported the kaoline and the white 
clays of that region, or there will be established new porcelain 
works, whose products will circulate throughout the country, 
or be taken abroad. Leon will furnish as freight its valuable 
building and ornamental stones, which are interspersed with 



430 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

yellow jaspers, presenting an appearance very similar to that of 
wood. At Lagos may be received the products of the Comanja 
and Sauceda mines, rich belts which may be worked on the 
largest scale. The product of the iron works at Comanja is 
of good quality, and will be largely shipped, and serve in the 
construction of railroads. To the north of Lagos is encountered 
the mercurial region of Puesto, and there are also some deposits 
of tin. From Guadalajara toward the Pacific are mining dis- 
tricts of much importance, near to the routes likely to be taken 
by the railway. Following the general direction now taken by 
the San Bias road are, at a short distance from Guadalajara, the 
mineral districts of Ameca and Etzatlan. Among the hills of 
the municipality of Ameca exist -native gold, sulphurets of silver 
and copper, magnetic oxides, and hematites of iron. Etzatlan 
is a mineral district of importance, worked with more or less 
activity. Following the road toward Magdalena is found, at 
a little distance, the mine of Hostotipaquillo, and some iso- 
lated metalliferous deposits which have not been sufficiently 
explored. On reaching Tepic, a mineral belt of great value is 
touched, such as the deposits of Acuitalpico, La Yesca, etc., as 
well as those which have not been explored, and which must 
exist in abundance in the Cordilleras of Alica. 

" Let us look now at the route the road must take to go to 
Paso del Norte. According to the concession, it will leave 
Leon, and must direct itself to Lagos, in order to touch a town 
whose importance we have already noted. The line goes north- 
ward through a productive grain belt, crosses the plains of 
Tecuan, in which are found rich country estates, whose irri- 
gating facilities may be increased by the sinking of artesian 
wells, and arrives at the city of Aguascalientes, where there is 
a population of thirty-five thousand, devoted to agriculture 
and various industries. The road will continue on toward 
Zacatecas, crossing the valley of Aguascalientes. On these 
plains are cultivated the cereals, and in the western region, 
which is mountainous, are raised other products, and there are 
also to be had building and ornamental woods. From Zacate- 
cas, famous for its rich mines, the road goes to Durango, a city 



THE MEXICAN RAILWAY MOVEMENT. 433 

which it is proper the road should touch at, although not so 
stipulated in the concession. As the road goes northward it 
will traverse a rich agricultural region, principally in the State 
of Durango, where, on a great scale, are cultivated cotton, 
sugar-cane, and the cereals. The railroad will carry life and 
colonization to that section, which sadly lacks labor and means 
of communication. The same may be said of the plains which 
the road crosses until reaching Paso del Norte." 

The foregoing has been quoted at length, not only as accurately 
descriptive of the country, but as the expression of a progressive 
Mexican, speaking for the more enlightened of his brethren. 
Though the Central nominally began work in June, 1880, little 
progress was made until late in that year; but by August, 1882, 
over four hundred miles of track had been laid, and surveys made 
for a large portion of the line. By obtaining permission to enter 
Mexico from the north, the management was enabled to push its 
construction trains from both ends, thus saving immense cost in 
freights, and long and vexatious delays. 

On August 2, 1882, the first train crossed the Border, at El 
Paso, from the United States into Mexico. Progress over the 
desert plains was rapid, and by the middle of September, 1882, 
the road was completed to Chihuahua, the isolated northern 
capital of the great State of the same name, when twenty-five 
thousand people assembled at the celebration of this event, 
including some two thousand from the United States. 

From the city of Mexico working northward, the advance has 
been even more rapid, owing to the accumulation of material 
and the incentive of rich regions to be opened up. After enter- 
ing Tula, the ancient seat of Toltec empire, the engineers of the 
Central bent every energy towards gaining the populous centres 
beyond. Never halting in their triumphant progress northward, 
everywhere hailed with joyous acclamations, they successively 
reached and passed Queretaro, Celaya, and Silao, reaching at 
last, in November, 1882, the gate of Guanajuato, the capital city 
of a great mining State. This city, being intrenched among al- 
most inaccessible hills, was connected with the trunk line by a 
branch, at the opening of which it was estimated that at least 

28 



434 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

eighty thousand people gathered to witness the arrival of the 
train from Mexico, with its freight of distinguished passengers. 
The festivities on this occasion were kept up for two days, and 
by night the city was brilliantly illuminated. The ist of Jan- 
uary, 1883, found the work advanced beyond the expectations 
of its most sanguine friends, and the entire State of Guanajuato 
spanned entirely by the iron road. 

The year 1883 opened with over six hundred miles of road 
completed and in running order; viz. from El Paso southward 
to Chihuahua, two hundred and twenty-five miles, graded one 
hundred and twenty-five miles beyond ; and from the city of 
Mexico to Lagos northward, about three hundred miles, and 
graded one hundred miles farther. On the Tampico branch, 
towards San Luis Potosi, about one hundred miles were com- 
pleted, and on the Pacific branch, easterly from San Bias, about 
twenty miles. January 1, 1884, found over 1,050 miles of com- 
pleted track, and but 160 miles intervening between the termini 
of the northern and southern divisions. 

Next in sequence to be considered is the long narrow-gauge 
line known as the Mexican National, with a total length of 
about two thousand miles, and a subsidy of $11,270 per mile. 
It first runs westerly from the city of Mexico, to Manzanillo, on 
the Pacific, passing through the important cities of Toluca and 
Morelia. Shortly before reaching the latter large city, it sends 
its northern trunk up towards San Luis Potosi, crossing the Cen- 
tral at a point west of Queretaro, and entering the United States 
at Laredo, on the Rio Grande. 

Connecting directly with the systems of Texas and the other 
Southern States, the National forms a short line from the capital 
to St. Louis and New York, over the Gould System for the for- 
mer city, and over the great Pennsylvania Central for the East. 
The distance from Boston to the city of Mexico by this route is 
about three thousand miles. 

It is built in pursuance of a decree of the Mexican Congress, 
and known as the " Palmer-Sullivan Concession," executed in 
September, 1880, for the construction of certain roads and tele- 



THE MEXICAN RAILWAY MOVEMENT. 435 

graphs ; first, from Mexico to the Pacific Ocean, " following the 
line that may prove most favorable for the mutual interests of 
the company and the nation " ; second, from Mexico to the 
northern frontier; third, from Matamoras to Monterey; fourth, 
from Zacatecas to San Luis Potosi, and also to Lagos. Work 
was begun in September, 1880, and its progress, though not so 
rapid as that of the Central, has been marked. The total subsi- 
dies accruing from the various concessions will aggregate over 
$20,000,000. 

The original concessions to this company were hampered by a 
great many conditions, the fulfilment of which created unneces- 
sary expenses, and delayed the progress of the road. But early 
in 1883 the Mexican government combined all these conflicting 
concessions into one, and allowing a full limit of ten years, 
instead of eight as at first, for the completion of the entire 
system. It also increased the subsidy to an even $7,000 per 
kilometre, or $11,270 per mile, which is to be paid by six 
per cent of the customs duties received in all parts of the 
republic. The larger or more important centres reached by 
this road, with their populations, are : — 

Monterey .... 42,000 

Saltillo 17,000 

San Luis Potosi 45,000 

Maravatio 12,000 

Acambaro 17,000 

Toluca - . . . 12,000 

Mexico 260,000 

Morelia 25,000 

Zamora 14,000 

Zapotlan 20,000 

Manzanillo . 5,000 

Colima 31,000 

Guadalajara 93,o°o 

The manager of this road, General Palmer, was one of the 
first to study the problem of railway connection between Mex- 
ico and the United States. The difficulties in the way of his 



436 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

undertaking at first seemed insuperable, and they by no means 
diminished as the work progressed. The road was many months 
in penetrating the mountains between the city of Mexico and 
Toluca, and endured a great deal of ill-deserved abuse because it 
persisted so patiently in overcoming the most difficult obstacles 
at the outset. Its system of working in sections, at various iso- 
lated portions of the route, though at first discouraging, eventu- 
ally proved the most rapid and satisfactory, especially as labor 
could be commanded that otherwise might not have been avail- 
able. The road has long since passed the bounds of the valley 
of Mexico, and has pursued the same undeviating march of 
triumph as has been witnessed in the advance of the Central. 

To illustrate the condition of the road during the first year of 
its existence, I introduce a description of the departure from the 
central office of the weekly pay train, which I accompanied. 

First, there was a small cart, containing $10,000 in silver; 
this was loaded and placed in charge of a guard while the 
mules were laden. There were seven mules. Upon the back 
of each one was placed a coarse bag containing $2,000 in 
silver. This bag was about two feet long and one wide, and 
was lashed tightly to the pack-saddle. The sum of $6,000 was 
despatched to a point farther up the line by diligence. In all, 
$30,000 was sent out from the office to be distributed before 
night. As the cathedral clock struck six, the great doors were 
thrown open, and we sallied forth, — first a small guard, then the 
mules, then the cart, then ourselves. As we reached the Ala- 
meda the diligence passed us at speed, with its escort galloping 
behind; and here we were joined by our own escort of rural 
guards and employees of the company. The drivers kept the 
mules on the gallop all the way, past the aqueduct of San Cosme, 
to Tacuba, the cart with its silver burden betraying by its jingling 
the nature of its contents. We were there reduced to twenty- 
six men, including eight rural guards furnished by govern- 
ment, and twelve armed employees of the company. Each man 
of the escort was clad in leather jacket and pantaloons, and 
armed with carbine, sabre, and revolver, besides carrying coiled 
at the pommel of his saddle the inevitable lasso. 



THE MEXICAN RAILWAY MOVEMENT. 439 

The guards rode ahead, then followed the seven silver-laden 
mules at a swift trot, which they kept up the whole distance, 
out and back, of fifty miles. A few miles out, after passing 
through great fields of maguey, over the muddiest of roads, 
between ditches white with the bloom of sagittaria, we reached 
San Estevan, where we again struck the track. A few miles 
beyond is Rio Hondo (the Deep River). Here we halted 
to pay away a few hundred dollars, then pursued our course 
again. At Rio Hondo is a large cotton and woollen mill, a 
model establishment, very large and complete. Ascending by 
a steep path to the barren table-land above, we had some eight 
miles of uninteresting road. Above Rio Hondo, which is twelve 
miles from Mexico, is the spot where poor Greenwood was mur- 
dered in 1880. He was an engineer in the employ of the com- 
pany, who had gone out only a little in advance of his men, when 
he was shot, his murderers taking his horse, watch, and money. 
Though the Mexican government pretends to visit such villains 
with swift retribution, yet these murderers, though caught, have 
never suffered the penalty of their horrible crime. A cross 
marks the spot, one of many that adorn the road, over this long 
stretch of "bad lands." 

On this road we were joined by a contractor, who soon left us, 
taking two mules with their loads of silver. The road-bed is 
out of sight from the plateau, as it follows the course of the Rio 
Hondo through deep cuts. Owing to the many cuts and bridges, 
work here is extremely difficult; there are twenty-six bridges 
in this section of three miles, and sixty between Mexico and 
Toluca. At a dismal village called San Bartolome, the laborers 
gathered about us, and one of the bags of silver was again 
opened, and a few hundred dollars paid out. Then we were in 
our saddles and off again. 

Mr. Pritchard, the superintendent, had received intelligence 
that a party of bandits intended attacking the train somewhere 
along the route, and had with great difficulty secured the escort 
of rural guards from government. As it was, owing probably 
to our strong escort, we were not molested ; but only the next 
day, a party of five, three on horses and two afoot, attacked and 



440 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

robbed two engineers just above this point. This proves the 
accuracy of our information, and shows how uncertain is travel 
as yet in this region. San Franciscito, a small town twenty- 
five miles from Mexico, was our destination, and after dinner, 
with some engineers living in the company's house, we pro- 
ceeded to pay the men. There were about a thousand of 
them, ranged in long rows in trie streets, a motley crowd, clad 
only in cotton shirts and pantaloons, with a sarape added, or a 
cape of palm leaves. This cloak, called capote de palma, is 
much worn by the shepherds ; it makes the wearer look like the 
roof of a thatched hut; but it turns the rain, and is cheap. 
The silver was counted out in piles upon a table, and each man 
paid as his name was called and checked upon a duplicate list. 
They were not allowed inside the room, of course, but took 
their money through a small aperture in the window, it being 
thrown into their hats, each man departing with a " Gracias, 
senor." It took three hours to pay away about four thousand 
dollars, during which time the rain was falling in torrents. At 
four o'clock we mounted for our return trip of twenty-five miles, 
every man protected by his sarape, and by a rubber poncho 
that fell from his shoulders and covered his saddle and a good 
portion of his horse. The rain had swollen the rivers and the 
" bad lands " were slippery as soap, so that three of our party 
suffered severe falls, and the paymaster's horse fell upon him, 
inflicting such injuries as to confine him to his bed for a week 
afterward. 

The section between Mexico and Toluca is probably the 
roughest on the whole line, being through the mountain wall 
around the valley of Anahuac, while the region is almost en- 
tirely worthless ; but beyond is one of the most fertile valleys 
in the- republic, where we find Toluca, a city doing much busi- 
ness, celebrated for its manufactures and its great trade with 
Mexico, and with a population of 11,000. 

The road runs through the lovely valley of Lerma, tapping 
the mining region of Tlalpujahua and El Oro, and penetrating 
the renowned forest belt, which contains great supplies of lum- 
ber, more precious to Mexico than silver or gold. 



THE MEXICAN RAILWAY MOVEMENT. 441 

Distant 134 miles from Mexico City is the town of Maravatio, 
with about 13,000 inhabitants, and 34 miles farther westward is 
Acambaro, the southernmost town in Guanajuato, containing 
a population of 17,000. It is the point at which the trunk 
line turns sharply to the north, and runs directly to San Luis 
Potosi and Texas. It is distant from Manzanillo, the Pacific 
terminus of the road, 443 miles, and 60 miles westward is the 
small, though beautiful, city of Morelia. This westward route is 
not devoid of attractions, as it penetrates the only lake region 
of Central Mexico, reaches attractive Morelia and the towns of 
Tzintzuntzan and Patzcuaro, ancient seats of aboriginal civiliza- 
tion. Skirting the great and wonderful Lake Chapala, the line 
passes through Guadalajara, capital of the State of Jalisco, and 
thence runs southward to Colima and Manzanillo. 

The 1st of January, 1883, saw the completion of 550 miles of 
the National Railroad. Monterey was reached in September, 

1882, and the road opened to traffic from Laredo and Corpus 
Christi, Texas, the latter the Gulf port and terminus, 400 miles 
distant from Saltillo, capital of the State of Coahuila, which was 
entered in September, 1883. 

From Mexico City northward, the line was open on January 1, 

1883, to Acambaro, distant 172 miles; track-laying was being 
rapidly pushed on the Pacific coast, and the completed line out 
from the capital, the El Salto branch, long since finished, in 
successful operation. The year 1884 opens with 875 miles of 
finished track on its main line and various branches. 

All difficulties have vanished before its hosts of engineers 
and peons, and town after town has welcomed its engines 
with the ringing of bells, and the thanksgivings of people at 
last freed forever from dependence upon the burro, mule, and 
diligence. 

A narrow-gauge railroad, crossing the country from Vera 
Cruz to Acapulco, was long ago projected, by way of Jalapa, 
Puebla, Mexico City, and Cuernavaca. This transcontinental 
line is continued westward from the capital by the Morelos Rail- 
road, one of the very few enterprises purely Mexican in charac- 



442 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

ter and controlled by energetic native capitalists. It runs at 
first parallel with the old road to Puebla, over which travel has 
rolled for centuries, and which, even in this age of steam, is 
crowded with the mules and donkeys of the freighters. Two 
daily trains leave the gate of San Lazaro for the South, com- 
posed of first, second, and third class cars, the fare being two 
cents per mile for the former, and less than one cent for the 
latter. At the hacienda of Los Reyes, composed of a few 
scattered adobe huts, a train connects for the ancient city of 
Tezcoco, and eventually for Puebla. 

The scenery for the most part is dreary, but plains waving 
with grain, like those of Ameca and Ozumba, and the great vol- 
canoes always in sight, especially from the latter place, make 
the route one of varied interest. Beyond the Mexican plateau, 
fifty miles from the capital, the road descends over a forbidding 
country, known as the mal pais, or "bad lands," fifty miles far- 
ther, to the town of Cuautla. This is a place of note, situated 
in tierra caliente, celebrated for its great sugar plantations and 
tropical fruits. 

On the 1 8th of June, 1881, the Morelos road was formally 
opened to this point with a grand banquet, and an assembling 
here of nearly all the notables of Mexico. A week later a most 
terrible accident occurred at the barranca of Malpais, caused 
by the washing away of the foundations of a bridge, by which 
two hundred persons, principally soldiers, were precipitated 
down a ravine, and the cars, loaded with lime and rum, took 
fire, enveloping the victims in flames. Had that accident hap- 
pened at the opening of the road, when President Gonzalez, Diaz, 
Romero, and most of the leading men of Mexico were there, the 
consequences to the republic would have been most disastrous. 
The whole work, with its sharp and numerous curves, and its in- 
secure bridges, seemed to justify the boast of the native popula- 
tion (before the accident), that the engineer was a Mexican, and 
had never built a road before. The disaster proved a lesson to 
the American engineers, especially those who came first in the 
dry season, when all the ravines and arroyos are bare, and who 
realized that they must reside here through a rainy season or 



THE MEXICAN RAILWAY MOVEMENT. 



443 



two before they could fully understand the perils of a road from 
floods. 

The Mexican manner of railroad building, I may remark in 
passing, is diametrically opposed to the American. First, you 
must get a " concession," — permission to build. Then you 
seek out some point far distant from any existing railroad, and 




POPOCATAPETL FROM OZUMBA. 



transport your material to that place. To begin at the coast 
would be contrary to Mexican tradition, and establish a dama- 
ging precedent. By beginning at the farther end of the line, you 
give employment to a great many carters and teamsters, which 
is but simple justice, as the road when built will certainly take 
away their freights. Realizing this, these aggrieved people make 



444 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

their charges accordingly. This way of constructing a road will 
take more time and capital, but you will have the sympathies of 
the owners of mules and diligences, and the satisfaction of having 
offended nobody's pet theories and traditions. The road will 
approach completion so gradually that it will seem as though it 
had always existed, and by that time you may have the pleasure 
of renewing the portion first built, and of employing the descend- 
ants, even to the third generation, of your original workmen. 

It was in this manner that the first railroad in Yucatan was 
built, and various others, and was originally insisted upon by the 
Mexican government in regard to the two great American roads. 
In making the road from Tampico to San Luis Potosi, for in- 
stance, material and rolling-stock were carted into the interior 
over tremendous hills, at a frightful expense, because the char- 
ter read " from San Luis to Tampico," instead of the reverse. 

The Mexicans have not yet recovered from their surprise at 
the rapid manner in which the great American work goes on. 
They see engineers, some young and full of theories, others 
old and gray with service in Peru and Brazil, taken from the 
steamers and transformed in a week into hard-working bands, 
that fall into line and labor for the roads as though they pos- 
sessed an individual interest in their completion. Each engineer 
of an advance party is furnished with a horse, a rifle, a revolver, 
and a peon, is lodged and fed at a hotel if in town, or comfort- 
ably cared for if in camp. 

From this chapter the reader may gather the more impor- 
tant details of the vast railway movement of Mexico. It is 
estimated that, up to January, 1884, over $60,000,000 have been 
expended by American capitalists alone. The question natu- 
rally arises, Will they ever recover this vast amount of capital, 
or obtain for it a remunerative rate of interest? 

That is a question which the future alone can answer. It is 
the writer's opinion that more roads are being built in Mexico 
than the country has need for, if it goes on developing for the 
next thousand years. Some have been blindly entered upon, 
without a counting of cost, or fair consideration of the regions to 
be traversed. Two great lines, with their various feeders and 



THE MEXICAN RAILWAY MOVEMENT. 445 

branches, are all-sufficient for Mexico and for the extension 
southward of the vast systems of the United States. The suc- 
cess of a greater number I consider more than problematical, 
notwithstanding the promised assistance of subsidies and the 
support of the Mexican government. 

It is true that these subsidies, if paid, will return to them a 
large proportion of the cost of construction ; it is equally true 
that Mexican commerce — upon which these subventions are 
dependent — must increase at a rate wholly unprecedented to 
yield the required revenue. If there ever was an excuse for 
repeating a hackneyed Mexican phrase, it occurs here ; and so 
I say, though with a reservation, Quien sabef — Who knows? 

Yet the vast- and comprehensive railroad system of Mexico 
was not the child of chance, but was planned by her political 
leaders. They recognized the necessity of rapid communication 
between the centre of political power and distant provinces, both 
for the massing of troops to quell rebellions and the develop- 
ment of latent resources. So they subsidized and encouraged 
certain lines, even in the face of popular opposition. 

With the Sonora Railroad crossing the extreme northwestern 
province, the Central taking the centre of the great plateau, the 
Huntington-Pierce combination (the " Sunset Route ") the next 
tier of States, the National the next, and the Oriental the east- 
ern border, we have Old Mexico divided longitudinally into as 
many portions as would seem advisable. Add to these the vari- 
ous feeders that span her from Gulf to Pacific, and lastly the 
Tehuantepec line that crosses her narrowest part, and we shall 
see that our Southern sister will soon be covered with a perfect 
network of iron rails and telegraph lines. 



XXII. 



A RIDE THROUGH A MINING REGION. 

" J\/TUCHO polvo" said I to the driver of the diligence that 

took me from the station on the Mexican Railway towards 

Pachuca. Mucho polvo, literally translated, means "much dust." 

" Si, seizor," replied Jehu. 

Our eight mules were in the best of spirits, and succeeded in 
raising such a cloud of dust as obscured the landscape for miles. 
I wished to remark upon the beauty of the scenery, but not 
recalling the proper Spanish words, and happy to find that the 
driver understood my comment, I said again, " Mucho polvo." 

" Si, senor!' 

In ten minutes, there rested upon the face of nature such a 
pall of dust as it would take a deluge to remove again, but 
through it all our mules galloped gayly, flinging up fresh clouds 
at every leap, until it was so thick around me, that, had we 
been standing still, I am certain we should have been buried as 
in a snow-drift. As the driver could not select his route, those 
mules gave rein to their desire to torture us as much as possible, 
and if there existed in that road a rock or rut that we did not 
go over or into, it was only because those animals could not find 
it. By way of varying the monotony of things I said to the 
driver, in a voice husky with dust, u Moo-moo-cho pol-pol-vo." 

The motion of the coach prevented me from giving, per- 
haps, the correct Castilian pronunciation, as one minute I was 
clinging to the hand-rail at his side, the next over amongst the 
baggage in the rear, and again down somewhere in the region 
of the mules ; but he understood me perfectly, — he was a very 
intelligent Mexican, — and replied promptly, " Si, senor." 



A RIDE THROUGH A MINING REGION. 447 

In about an hour and twenty minutes after leaving the sta- 
tion the diligence suddenly pulled up at Xochihuacan. If the 
reason why we halted here is not evident at a glance, I may 
explain that we needed time to pronounce this Aztec name, 
not being able to get around it in our then exhausted condi- 
tion. We hailed it with light hearts, but with heavy stomachs ; 
for we had inside us an amount of disintegrated Mexican earth 
that would have entitled us to honorable distinction among the 
clay-eaters of the Orinoco. We took breakfast that morning at 
a thriving settlement of one house and a mule-shed, known as 
Tepa, where we were first introduced to the pulque of that 
region. As it was made on an adjacent hacienda, and was the 
best in the county, we essayed a drink, clasped our noses, 
breathed a prayer to the Virgin of the Remedios, — the patron 
saint of pulque-drinkers, — and gulped it down. Having thus 
washed the dust from our throats into our stomachs, we started 
on again. 

Northeast of the city of Mexico is a cluster of the richest 
States in the republic, consisting of Guanajuato, Queretaro, and 
Hidalgo, the mining centre of the last being Pachuca. It lies on 
a plain about sixty miles from Mexico City, — a plain covered 
with maguey plants and environed by the same purple hills that 
surround the capital, over which peers the wonderful Montana 
de los Organos, or Organ Mountain, of Actopan. Enclosed 
within a semicircle of bare brown hills, by which it is hidden 
till nearly approached, Pachuca fills a little valley with low- 
walled houses of stone. It has a population of about twenty- 
five thousand, the great bulk of which are Indian miners. It is, 
with Tasco, the oldest mining district in Mexico, and it is sup- 
posed that the first Spanish settlement was founded near here. 
Its mines have been worked for over three hundred and fifty 
years, and here in this very town was discovered the process 
of amalgamation, in use to-day, by which all the ores dug from 
the mountain are made to yield up the silver they contain. 
Yes, more, the very hacienda is still at work, and profitably, in 
which, in 1557, Senor Medina made that discovery so valuable 
to Mexico. Senor Medina has passed away, it is presumed, 



448 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

but his memory still lives, and it deserves to be perpetuated by 
a monument of silver at least a hundred feet high. 

Besides the native population there is an English colony, com- 
prising about three hundred and fifty men, women, and children, 
from the mining district of Cornwall. The first Cornish miners 
came here about sixty years ago, introducing English ma- 
chinery and modes of working. More than half a century ago, 
England was afflicted with an " Anglo-Spanish " mining fever, 
which did not abate till more than $50,000,000 of English capi- 
tal had been expended in Mexico. During the prevalence of 
that fever many of these miners came out here. Some of the 
original number are still living, and all agree as to the health- 
fulness of the climate of this region as a place of residence for 
English people. Though some of them had acquired wealth, 
and some had retired to Old England with enough and to spare, 
the majority had earned little more than a living, until they 
" struck it rich " in the Santa Gertrudis mine, which is now " in 
bonanza." It had been successively worked and abandoned 
years and years ago, and was finally " denounced " — or taken 
to work — by a Cornishman. Forming a small company, in 
1877, he commenced active work; after it was proved that 
the mine was paying, he sold his share, nine twenty-fifths, for 
$15,000. Since then, one twenty-fifth has sold for $80,000, 
the present price being $85,000 or $90,000 per barra, or share. 
The mine has been " in bonanza " now for five years, and is 
yielding about 3,000 cargas of 300 pounds each of metal 
weekly, and giving a clear profit of $1,000 per day. From 
June, 1877, to March, 1881, the mine produced $2,300,000, and 
declared thirty-two dividends of $20,000 each, — $640,000. In 
June, 1877, there was but one shaft of sixty varas, — a vara is 
little less than a yard ; now, the deepest shaft is two hundred 
varas ; there are powerful pumping and hoisting engines, many 
large buildings, and all the appurtenances of a mine in this 
section, all paid for. This mine, which is located less than 
two miles from the centre of Pachuca, is owned principally by 
men who were poor at the time they commenced to work it. 
There are, it is said, two distinct lodes, running parallel, and at 






A RIDE THROUGH A MINING REGION. 



449 




less than fifty yards from each other. At first the vein worked 
was only a vara wide, but, as they went down, they found a 
cavern filled with " metallic mush," twenty-four feet wide. 
They were at first compelled to timber around a great deal, for 

29 



450 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

the sake of economy, taking out merely enough to meet current 
expenses. What remained was " pure black sulphurets, which 
exhumed globules of native silver when exposed to fire." One 
can trace the silver lode as it crops out above the surface, and 
runs diagonally across the hills. 

The gross product of Santa Gertrudis in the first four years 
sums up $4,000,000, although yet new, and more than $2,000,000 
has been divided in profits. The ores of this district vary from 
$20 to $300 per ton, with frequent deposits up to $500 ; $60 
per ton is considered sufficient to put a mine in bonanza. 

In Pachuca and the mining districts around it — Real del 
Monte to the northeast, El Chico to the north, and Santa Rosa 
to the west — are in all 267 mines, as follows : in Pachuca, 1 54 ; 
Real del Monte, 76; El Chico, 24; and in Santa Rosa, 13. 
The prevailing metal is sulphate of silver, though in some 
mines native silver is found mixed with the ore. The ores 
are " docile," and reduced by the barrel process, smelting- 
pan, amalgamation, and "patio" process. There are but two 
States that equal Hidalgo in yield of silver. Most of the 
mines are operated in the old Mexican fashion, the metal 
being brought up in bullock-skins, by means of long ropes of 
maguey fibre wound about a large drum, worked by horses or 
mules. 

The accounts of the yields of some of these mines border 
upon the fabulous, yet it is more likely that they have been 
under rather than over estimated. Under the old Spanish laws, 
one fifth went to the king, and under the present laws one 
twenty-fifth belongs to the government, and by examining the 
books in which these accounts are kept, one may quickly ascer- 
tain the production of any mine. In the archives of Mexico 
you may find the musty volumes containing these records, some 
of them over three hundred years old. By them it appears that 
one hundred million dollars has been taken from a single mine, 
the Rosario, in thirty years, and the books show that there has 
been paid $500,000 per share in dividends. 

On our way through the street leading to the gorge at the 
head of the valley where this mine is located, we passed the 



A RIDE THROUGH A MINING REGION. 451 

headquarters of the Real del Monte company, which works 
the greatest number of mines in this district. Its building 
is a perfect fortress, built, like all Mexican houses of the bet- 
ter class, with stone walls, square, and surrounding an open 
court in the centre, into which all the rooms look ; but flanked 
at every corner with towers, loopholed and slit for musketry. 
When I first saw this structure I did not understand the full 
significance of those towers, supposing that they were added 
for ornament ; but I subsequently learned that they were made 
for a purpose, and that many a man has been shot from them. 
Bullet-holes may yet be seen in the walls, though many have 
been effaced by mortar and paint. It is only eight or nine years 
since this castle withstood the attack of a horde of bandits. As 
related by an eyewitness, the affair was something like this. 
There was a large quantity of silver stored in the vaults of the 
building; for all the treasure of the various mines is first col- 
lected here, and then sent, in steel wagons, well guarded, to the 
mint in Mexico. It was, I think, in revolutionary times, and the 
country was overrun with lawless men, who collected in Pachuca 
in great numbers. The commander of the little army main- 
tained by this great company had two hundred picked men. 
Leaving a small guard in the castle, he returned to Real del 
Monte, two leagues distant, there formed and collected his 
forces, and then marched again upon Pachuca. Soon as the 
guard within the fort saw their comrades appear upon the hill- 
tops, they opened fire upon the rascals outside, while the 
commandant charged through the narrow streets, with great 
slaughter. 

The few windows opening on the street are defended by iron 
bars, and the massive doors are guarded by men armed with 
rifle and revolver. Above this are the extensive mills and works, 
called haciendas, of the company, and the apartado, an immense 
establishment, in which the silver is assayed and the residue of 
gold extracted after the silver has been run into bricks. Here 
everything needful is made, even to the sulphuric acid used in 
the operation. The sulphur comes from Sicily, though old 
Popocatapetl has a vast store yet in his vitals ; and the quick- 



452 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

silver from Austria, though there are mines of it south of the 
capital. 

Entering the great gate, — for all the mines and works are 
surrounded by high stone walls, — we procured candles of the 
keeper at the mouth, and plunged into the dark tunnel of an 
" adit." There was a track over which the cars were drawn 
which carry the ore out from the shafts, but they were not then 
running, and so we walked the whole distance of five hundred 
varas, — nearly a quarter of a mile. At the end of the adit, 
in an uncanny hole, into which we climbed with difficulty, was 
a large steam-engine, puffing and sizzling, and rendering the 
place so hot that the remark was made that the engineer, if 
he went below when he died, would need an overcoat. These 
hills are honeycombed with shafts and adits ; some of them, 
connecting with those of other mines, lead under the mountains 
a league. We passed over two shafts, each fifteen hundred feet 
deep, from which the miners were pouring, like flies out of the 
bunghole of a sugar cask. Probably over twelve hundred men 
are employed in this mine alone. They get, as wages, from six 
to ten reales per day, and one bag of ore out of every eight they 
break. The ore is sent up in small coarse bags, each one with 
the miner's mark on it, and dumped into small iron cars when it 
reaches the adit, and drawn out by mules. 

When we had emerged into open air, the manager took me to 
the office and gave me some very rich specimens of ore, some 
containing native silver, and these, with others obtained later, 
made a most excellent series for cabinet and laboratory use. 
Most of them were obtained from the men as they came out 
of the mine. Each gang works twelve hours, and the work 
goes on night and day, without cessation, the month through. 
As the men come out of the mine and pass through the gate, they 
are searched — three times in all — for silver ore ; yet they often 
rrranage to carry away a great deal in the course of a month, 
which they dispose of to the. small haciendas in town, which 
"beneficiate" on their own account. Their methods of conceal- 
ment are various and artful. One was to hollow the handles of 
their hammers, which they were permitted to carry out of the 



A RIDE THROUGH A MINING REGION. 



453 



mines with them, and fill them full of ore ; another, to pulverize 
the ore and roll it up in cigarette papers ; another, to have it in 
little bags, so arranged with strings that they could change it 
from side to side, un- 
der their loose shirts, 
or sarapes, when the 
keeper was passing 
his hands over them. 
They conceal it be- 
tween their toes, in 
their ears, and in the 
last places one would 
think of; their scanty 
clothing offers no aid to 
hiding. In the Rosa- 
rio is an old shaft four 
hundred feet in length, 
leading from the top of 
a hill into the mine ; it 
was long since aban- 
doned, and is now used 
as a chimney for one 
of the engines in tb.e 
mines. For a long time 
great quantities of ore 
were missing. The paid 
agents of the company 

reported that stealing was going on, but could not tell how. At 
last it was discovered that an adit had been driven into the hill to 
the old shaft, and up this dangerous place they had climbed at 
night, dragging the bags of ore after them. An exploring party 
was sent in and found a dead man and some provisions, the man 
suffocated by the smoke. 

"If the superintendent," says a certain writer, "should roast 
the parish priest in front of the oxidizing furnace, till he con- 
fessed all he knew about the thefts of his parishioners from the 
company, he would tell strange stories ; — how Juan Fernandez 




MEXICAN MINERS. 



454 



TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 



carried off sixpennyworth of silver in each ear every day for a 
month ; and how Pedro Alvarado (the Indian names have almost 
disappeared except in a few families, and Spanish names have 
been substituted) had a hammer with a hollow handle, like the 
stick that Sancho Panza delivered his famous judgment about, 
and carried away silver in it every day when he left work ; and 
how Vasco Nunez stole the iron key from the gate (which it 
cost two dollars to replace), walking twenty miles and losing a 
day's work in order to sell it, and eventually getting but two- 
pence for it ; and plenty more stories of the same kind." 

This mine well illustrates the uncertainty attending all mining 
operations. Before the present company got control of it, two 
others had it, the last of which stopped within forty feet of the 
lode that has yielded millions. It was the making of Pachuca, 
the cause of its being created capital of the State, and floated 
the company through a long series of years, in which its other 
mines were being worked at a loss. Since the opening of this 
the mine of Guatemotzin has given up millions of dollars. The 
ore extracted in the district is about twelve thousand cargas, of 
three hundred pounds, per week, and the wages paid the labor- 
ers, miners, muleteers, teamsters, etc. amount to more than 
forty thousand dollars weekly. It may seem hardly credible, 
but nearly the whole of this large sum is spent every Saturday; 
by Sunday night hardly a miner has a copper remaining. He 
spends it in pulque, mainly, and such things as profit him noth- 
ing. When well filled with pulque he is very valiant; hardly a 
day passes that some one is not killed or wounded, and on Sun- 
days grim death reaps a harvest. 

In the summer of 1881, the inhabitants of Mexico were elec- 
trified by the news that an old mine, which had been neglected 
for one hundred years or more, had been found in bonanza. 
This mine was owned by the Conde de Regla, who employed 
two hundred slaves at work there, it is said, chained together. 
They were never allowed to see the light, after having entered 
the horrible pit, and finally, despairing of escape, they set the 
woodwork of the mine on fire, and all perished. The mine has 
not been worked since until recently, as it filled with water. 



A RIDE THROUGH A MINING REGION. 455 

Now, the workmen are discovering old tools, skulls, and skel- 
etons, and what is better, — silver. There are many of these 
abandoned mines, from which the Spaniards were driven during 
the revolution of 1821, that were yielding their millions. Be- 
coming filled with water, and the Mexicans being unable to 
clear them out with their inadequate and primitive machinery, 
they have remained unworked to the present day. The reopen- 
ing of these valuable deposits of silver has been the favorite 
project of Mexican miners for nearly half a century ; but very 
little has been accomplished, owing to the amount of capital 
necessary for the purchase of improved pumping apparatus, 
material for the timbering of the shafts, and hoisting machinery. 

Scattered over the brown hillside above Pachuca, gleaming 
white, like monuments in a country graveyard, are round pillars 
of stone, two feet in diameter and five in height. They are the 
landmarks, or corner-posts, that define the locations of the mines. 
In locating a mine in this country, the first thing, naturally, is 
to find a lode ; then one person may take up two claims six 
hundred feet long by three hundred wide, each ; two persons 
can take up double this amount, but no greater location than 
the latter can be made by one company on the same lode con- 
tinuously. The width of the location may be amplified accord- 
ing to the dip of the lode. For example, if the dip of the lode 
be very shallow, the width may be doubled to four hundred 
metres. The petition for location of a new lode, duly filed in 
the mining archives, guarantees the prima facie right to final 
possession upon fulfilling certain conditions ; namely, the sink- 
ing of a shaft of ten or more metres, or running the same distance 
in a tunnel on that which shall be declared a metal-bearing 
vein, no legal objections appearing. If objection is made by 
owners of adjacent mines, or other persons, the matter is heard 
and determined by the "board," or sent to the courts. 

The mining laws of Mexico have been handed down, with few 
amendments, from the crown laws of Spain. The system is 
simple, and eminently practical. " Under the operation of this 
national code, mining boards are established in all localities 
where mines exist. The board is composed of three members, 



456 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

one being elected each year by the votes of mine-owners only. 
The oldest member is president, another the secretary. The 
board possesses quasi-judicial powers for adjudicating disputed 
questions, although appeal to the courts may be taken in cases 
involving interpretations of law. One of the board, with the 
consent of another member, personally gives formal possession 
of new locations, or relocations of abandoned mines. The re- 
port of the engineer, with a map, is deposited with the board, 
and, if no objection is made, the formal possession is at once 
determined on. The. fee of the engineer is $20 for every hun- 
dred metres. The fee for filing declaratory intention to locate, 
is $4.50, and a government stamp of $1. The fee to the board 
in granting possession varies from $60 to $80, discretionary 
with the officiating member. The requirements of the Mexican 
mining laws simply relate to the width and breadth of the shaft, 
timbering, and other mediums of safety. They are no more 
stringent than the intelligent mining superintendent would nat- 
urally observe in managing his own property. Work is required 
to be performed for a continuous period of four months, at the 
expiration of which an additional four months without work is 
allowed. 1 The land-owner still retains his right to the geo- 
graphical surface, except so much as is needed by the mine 
proprietors for their buildings, etc. In case he so requires, the 
land-owner is paid a small sum for his property, by mutual 
agreement. Should a dispute arise, it is immediately referred 
to arbitration for final settlement. In the State of Hidalgo all 
mines, regardless of extent, are by law divided into twenty-five 
parts, called barms, one of which belongs to the State, unas- 
sessable. This free barra is supposed to be in lieu of taxation. 
At the option of the owners, a further subdivision is made, 
called bonos, which substantially represents the shares. In 
speaking of the value of ores in this country, it is customary 

1 " The title to the soil of Mexico carries no title to the gold and silver mineral 
that may be contained in the land. The precious metals are not only regarded in 
law as treasure-trove, but they carry with them to the lucky discoverer the right to 
enter upon another person's land, and to appropriate so much of the land as is 
necessary to avail himself of the prize." — R. A. Wilson. 






A RIDE THROUGH A MINING REGION. 457 

to state the number of marcos (a marco is about $8.85) to the 
monton, three thousand pounds. In locating mining property, 
an alien enjoys the same rights and privileges as a native." 

The stronghold of the silver king, or of the " company," is 
at Real del Monte, two leagues from Pachuca, and several 
hundred feet higher. Here the little village is mined beneath 
all its area, and the hills about are full of tunnels, shafts, and 
adits. In going there you hire a horse and a mozo (a ser- 
vant), and strike up and over the hills toward the east. As 
you mount higher and higher, and the road winds in and out, 
now at the base of a precipice, now at the top of another, now 
topping a deep ravine, now crossing a bridge, yet always climb- 
ing, you look down upon and over a glorious sweep of hill and 
valley; far down below is the Pachuca plain, covered with grow- 
ing crops of barley, maguey, and wheat; in town, the most con- 
spicuous objects are the bull-ring, the cathedral, the new theatre, 
and the old convent of San Juan de Dios. Many a mile of hill 
and plain are spread out before us, alternately claiming atten- 
tion, till the outermost circle of all is reached, blue, dim, misty 
above which, full ninety miles away, grand, majestic old Popo- 
catapetl thrusts his pointed helmet, crowned with perpetual 
snow, through clouds of silvery, dazzling white. At the sum- 
mit of the ridge, descending the eastern slope, is a beautiful 
grove of Mexican oaks, crowning an oval hill, each tree a mound 
of verdure. Descending the hills, you come to others, upon 
and among which Real del Monte is built ; far beyond may be 
seen some curiously formed rocks of immense size, called t'he 
Penas Cargadas, or " Loaded Rocks." It was here that the 
English Real del Monte Company took possession of the mines 
whence the Count of Regla extracted his great wealth, and, 
through reckless expenditure, managed to absorb $20,000,000, 
of capital, sent out to them from England, in twenty-five years. 
From this they realized but $16,000,000, " and the present pro- 
prietors enjoy the fruits of their labors at a cost of less than a 
million, with a fair prospect of realizing as large a treasure as 
that acquired by the first Count of Regla. This is one of the 
most extensive mines in the world, where an average of five 



458 



TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 



thousand men and unnumbered animals are employed." The 
foregoing statement was written twenty-five years ago, and so 
far as prospective wealth is concerned might be repeated to-day, 
for the old mines seem yet unexhausted, and the company is 
still prosecuting its labors with great vigor. One can scarcely 
comprehend the inexhaustible nature of these veins, some of 
which have been worked three centuries and a half, and, after 
glutting all their possessors with precious metal, still beckon 




A MINING REGION. 

on to perhaps yet greater deposits, though they have already 
been followed for miles. It seems as though the expression 
" silver hills " has more than a figurative meaning, and that 
the entire backbone of the republic is of silver, with ribs of 
that metal and of gold extending deep into the bowels of the 
earth. 

Leaving behind us this centre of ancient enterprise, situated, 
according to Humboldt, nine thousand feet above the sea, we took 
the road leading to Regla. It was crowded with mules and don- 



A RIDE THROUGH A MINING REGION. 459 

keys laden with sacks of ore, going from Pachuca to the smelting 
establishments of Regla and San Miguel, and we had great dif- 
ficulty in getting through them. There was not a bridle or rein 
amongst the whole lot of about sixty, yet they all kept together, 
guided by a peon and two men in leather jackets and breeches, 
who were almost covered up with arms of all kinds. 

The Hacienda de Regla, 1 which we reached about noon, is 
seven leagues from Pachuca, the termination of the road ; it is 
a heterogeneous collection of buildings, crowded into a mighty 
gorge, which is walled across. In describing this, the strongest 
of those silver works erected in the last century, I scarcely know 
how to approach it; stupendous works of nature vie with mas- 
sive buildings erected by man, either one of which would arrest 
the attention of a tourist in any land. But let us examine the 
natural formation first, even as we would learn the general out- 
line of the world's map before man's advent upon it. Here is 
the Giant's Causeway of America, as the late Bishop Haven 
called it. " It is worth a journey of a thousand miles to see the 
Barranca Grande and the Regla Palisades." The name is an 
exaggeration, even as are most of his descriptions and narra- 
tions, yet there is here material enough to warrant a comparison, 
and no mean one either. Here is a basaltic formation grander, 
perhaps, than any the United States can boast. Here are cliffs 
one hundred and fifty feet high, enclosing a basin deep and 
wide. Immense basaltic columns, perpendicular ranges of rock 
pillars, rise high above our heads, and from a deep gap, at 
the head of the gorge, a stream of water rushes out, — an im- 
mense volume, — which takes a leap of forty feet or more, and 
plunges into a rocky basin. It is a most striking picture, this 
foaming, roaring avalanche of milk-white water, suddenly pro- 
jected into view from a deep black chasm, and precipitated into 
this rock-ribbed ravine. In one place the great columns are 
crowded out, as though by the superincumbent weight of earth 

1 It occurs to me that the term hacienda needs explanation. It puzzled me at 
first, for I thought the name only applied to a great farm, but it seems there are 
haciendas del campo, or farms, and haciendas de las minas, or mills ; as in other places 
I have found ra?ichos, or small farms for cattle, and ranches which were merely wood 
camps. 



460 



TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 



and rocks above them, or as if the giant that fashioned them 
had bent them outward from the perpendicular face-line of the 
cliffs when in a state of fusion. They present a mass of hex- 
agonal rocks, showing well the shape of these massive columns. 




THE CASCADE OF KEGLA. 



The bed of the river that flows down toward the barranca is 
paved with these hexagonal and pentagonal blocks ; an old 
aqueduct leads from the basin to the mills, forming a double 
arch as it leaps over the river-bed and enters the wall surround- 



A RIDE THROUGH A MINING REGION. 46 1 

lag the works. The organ cactus grins out of the rocks, and 
great yucca-leaved trees with pendent bunches of snow-white 
flowers hang above the buildings. 

What an indomitable spirit was that of the man who built 
these works, — Peter Terreros, the first Count of Regla. It 
is estimated that he expended $2,500,000 upon the buildings 
constituting this refining establishment, sunk in this barranca, 
below the level of the table land. Right here, on the scene of 
his labors, let us recall who and what he was. As authority, 
I will quote from a writer of a quarter of a century ago, 
who repeats what was known and confirmed by Humboldt 
sixty years before. " In olden times the water in the Real del 
Monte mines had been lifted out of the Santa Brigeda and other 

shafts in bull-hides carried upon a windlass But after 

a certain depth had been reached, the head of water could no 
longer be kept down by this process, and, in consequence, the 
Real del Monte was abandoned, about the beginning of the last 
century, and became a perfect ruin. Peter Terreros, then a man 
of limited means, conceived the idea of draining this abandoned 
mine by means of a tunnel or adit (socadon) through the rock, 
one mile and a quarter in length, till he should strike the Santa 
Brigeda shaft. From 1750 to 1762, he toiled until he reached 
the shaft, and also a bonanza, which continued for twelve years 
to yield an amount of silver that in our day appears fabulous. 
The veins which he struck from time to time in the tunnel kept 
the enterprise alive. His bonanza not only furnished the means 
for refitting and clearing out the old shaft, but from his surplus 
profits he laid out half a million dollars annually in the purchase 
of plantations, or six million dollars in the twelve years, equal to 
about five hundred thousand pounds' weight of silver. Besides, 
he loaned the king a million dollars, which has never been repaid, 
and built and equipped two ships of the line and gave them to 
his sovereign. He was then created (this muleteer and illiterate 
shopkeeper) Count of Regla. When his children were baptized, 
the procession walked upon bars of silver. He assured the king 
that, if he would visit him, wherever he walked it should be upon 
silver bars, and that his apartments should be lined with that 
precious metal." 



462 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

This hacienda was established by the Conde de Regla over 
one hundred years ago, and the reason for having the reduc- 
tion works so far from the mines is that there is an abundance 
of water here, and little there. It is said that he employed 
slaves in this hacienda, as in his mines, and kept them in 
caverns in the cliffs. 

Directly in front of the church is the patio, court or yard, in 
which is carried on the operation of mixing, kneading, and amal- 
gamating the silver ore, called the " Patio process." It is the 
oldest Mexican system of extracting silver from its ore, and 
in substance the only one tolerated. - The ore is brought here 
from the mines, on the backs of mules and burros, and in great 
carts, crushed into pieces the size of a walnut, and then further 
crushed and triturated beneath heavy blocks of basalt, whirled 
about in a circular basin, called an arrastre, by water-power. 
The comminuted ore is then run out into the patio, where 
it is spread out in great mud pies, and this mud, mixed 
with salt, quicksilver, and copperas, is trodden and thoroughly 
kneaded by droves of horses being driven through it a certain 
number of hours daily, — a custom introduced from Peru in 1733. 
The establishment has over two hundred horses and mules, and 
when I arrived six groups of twenty-four horses each were at 
work on different beds in the patio. They are tied together 
by a long line, which a man who stands in the centre holds in 
his. hand, and compelled to travel round and round during eight 
long hours. When they leave the valuable deposit they are 
covered with precious mud, which is washed from them in a 
large tank. Further mixing with chemicals, washings, and tritu- 
rations, are necessary before the final process of volatilization 
and running into bars, each and every one requiring watchful 
care and skill sharpened by long experience. The process is 
'wasteful in the extreme, about twenty per cent, it is calculated, 
probably remaining in the residuum. The cost of reducing 
ores in this manner varies from twenty to twenty-five dollars 
per ton; consequently, ores yielding less than thirty dollars 
per ton are not generally worked. 

It was worth a week's journey to look upon these mighty 



A RIDE THROUGH A MINING REGION. 463 

palisades, and that night, when the moon came up and filled 
the great gap with mellow light, the view could not be rec- 
ompensed by a month of ordinary scenes. Next morning I 
climbed the hill, above the compact castle and town, through 
a miserable village, with one street that led upward, and full 
of rocks and stones that had a tendency to send you down- 
ward. But the mozo said it was a buen camino, a good road ; 
though a mozo always calls any road good that has holes in 
it less than four feet deep, and rocks you can climb over 
without a ladder. After a time we attained the table land 
again, from which we had descended into the gorge the day 
before. This portion is a great plain, thickly peppered with 
stones from some volcano, and in the distance are clumps of 
cedar and acacia, with here and there an oak. The air is fra- 
grant with cedar odors, and the pastures might be those of the 
Massachusetts hills, but for the maguey along the walls. 

And what am I going to see? A barranca. And a barranca 
is — a hole in the ground, a ravine lengthened out, and spread 
apart, and deepened, until it has ceased to be a ravine, or a 
gorge, or even a canon, but becomes a barranca. And this is 
the Barranca Grande, the largest one in the State, and perhaps 
in the country, miles across, and with walls twenty-five hundred 
feet deep, or high, according to whether you stand at top or bot- 
tom. The mozo leads the way to the brink of a precipice, and 
I look down into the barranca of the river from Regla. Steep 
walls of rock are under my feet, at the base of which is the 
accumulated detritus of centuries, sloping to the bottom, where 
a river meanders through groves of trees and green-carpeted 
alluvium. It must be a large river, though it looks a mere sil- 
ver thread, and its roaring can be heard here, two thousand 
feet above it. Riding still farther on a couple of miles, over 
stone-strewn hills, I reached the highest prominence on the 
plateau, between the Regla barranca and one still grander, into 
which its river empties. Below me stretched the great barranca, 
pursuing a serpentine course from north to south, a broad vale 
of green, divided into fields and gardens, with dark green mango 
and orange trees shading a most luxuriant vegetation, and a 



464 



TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 



river running through its centre, here dark and quiet, there 
foaming over shallows. Brown earth, without a stone appearing 
in it, indicated fresh cultivation, and little thatched huts, upon 
various spurs and elevations, told where the cultivators lived. A 
happy valley this deep-sunken barranca-bottom appears to be ; 
but doubtless there are drawbacks to a perfect state of existence 
here ; the river is not always so quiet, and sometimes rushes up 
the hillsides and tears away these homes so humble ; and as to 
getting there, if the delight of being secluded is great, the 
difficulties surrounding it are greater, for the roads leading down 
from the outer world are long and tortuous, steep and danger- 
ous, scarcely passable even for mules. The principal plant up 
here is a prickly-pear, growing up like a tree, with red flowers, 
and the aloe ; about them hover butterflies and humming-birds. 

While I wrote these notes my mozo 
went to sleep under a cactus, on a con- 
tiguous hill, and the horse dozed by his 
side. I like these mozos ; they are hon- 
est and faithful. In the number I have 
employed, I have not found a faithless 
one. And then they are so humble; 
they will hardly address you without 
touching their hats, and are very grate- 
ful for a kindness. Poor fellows ! they 
get little enough of it here. This one 
had trotted by my side for several miles, 
and when I gave him a piece of silver he 
could not understand why I should do 
so ; it was only two reales, yet he was so 
profuse in his thanks that I galloped away 
a mozo. from him to escape them. In returning 

over the plain he sought out for me some 
specimens of obsidian, — the volcanic vitreous stone from which 
the Aztecs used to make their spears, knives, and arrow-heads. 
It is very plentiful here, and in the hills between these plains and 
Pachuca there are indications of extensive mines by the Aztecs 
for the purpose of getting this valuable product, the itzli, which 




A RIDE THROUGH A MINING REGION. 465 

stood them in the place of iron and steel. This region of quar- 
ries is known as the Mountain of Knives, — el Cerro de las 
Navajas. 

San Miguel is the name of the other beneficiating hacienda 
belonging to the Real del Monte Company; it is about two 
miles south of the cascade, and the most delightful in the silver 
region. Intending to stay there but an hour, I was induced to 
remain three days. Learning that I had sent my effects on to 
Pachuca together with my camera and gun, the administrador 
sent a peon for them to that point, a distance of twenty miles. 
When I returned to Pachuca, that same peon went with me and 
carried them back, making in all eighty miles on foot; yet, 
when I made him a present of but a dollar, he returned me 
a thousand thanks, — " Mil gracias, senor," — and went away 
delighted. 

Senor Anda, the administrador, was a graduate of the School 
of Mines in Mexico, — which has sent out so many finished en- 
gineers, — a commissioner to our Centennial Exhibition, where 
he received honorable mention, and is now the head of a haci- 
enda requiring skill and education to manage. 

In this mill they use a different process from that of Regla, 
called the " Saxony," of roasting the ore and washing it in 
revolving barrels. In crushing the "metal," they use the " Chi- 
lian process." Huge round stones, called chilenos, five feet 
in diameter, are made to revolve in a basin containing the 
metal and water. From these the water holding the silver in 
solution is run beneath the stamps, and then into the patio, where 
the rich mud gradually dries and is deposited in great beds ; 
then it is dried over furnaces, and " roasted," after which it 
is mixed with mercury and " washed " in revolving barrels ; 
the surplus mercury is squeezed out in bags, then subjected to 
heat and volatilized, and the silver run into bricks weighing 
from forty to fifty pounds. I saw one mass of silver and mer- 
cury, as it was placed in the fire to be melted and volatilized, 
that weighed 750 pounds, and the silver alone was worth $6,000. 
The whole process is conducted within closed walls, and every 
weight and value taken down in writing as it proceeds. For 

3° 



466 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

the reason that the substance sought is so precious, all these 
haciendas, mills, and mines are surrounded with high stone 
walls, that of San Miguel being quite twenty feet high, en- 
closing six or eight acres. 

This was the former residence of the Counts of Regla, and 
their house, more than one hundred years old, is yet standing, 
while the gardens of San Miguel are famous throughout Hi- 
dalgo. Here the springs have their source, that swell into 
streams, and finally unite in the river that has worn its way 
through the basaltic formation of Regla. The hills circle round 
on three sides, but are open on the north, where the river flows 
out; an extensive wood fills this open amphitheatre, visible, as 
it nestles in the shelter of the ridge, for many miles. The most 
accessible portion of this basin, just outside and south of the 
enclosing wall of the hacienda, was once transformed into a 
beautiful garden, famous in the days of its glory for its lovely 
flowers and rare plants. The waters of the springs — called 
ojos de agua, or " water-eyes " — bubble up beneath shapely 
oaks hung with moss, and are detained by a solid wall, thrown 
across the hollow. Around the lake thus formed is a broad 
walk, with a low wall on either side, and at intervals are fash- 
ioned great curved seats of plastered stone, sometimes cut from 
the solid rock. 

I doubt if there are as many mines now in Mexico as at the 
beginning of this century, when Humboldt estimated them at 
three thousand in number; but those in operation, owing to 
the introduction of improved machinery, are worked at greater 
profit. As the railroads are extended, and remote sections are 
brought into communication with the capital, they will increase 
in number and in value ; but it will require many years to de- 
velop the treasures of gold and silver that Mexico holds con- 
cealed. Though the mines of Pachuca are among the richest, 
there are others in the republic yet more extensive. Accord- 
ing to Sartorius, the Valenciana, of Guanajuato, a mine that 
yielded its owners an annual profit of a million dollars, has 
shafts and adits that cost several millions, and a lofty and broad 
spiral path is cut through firm rock to a depth of over five hun- 



A RIDE THROUGH A MINING REGION. 467 

dred feet, so that troops of mules can descend into the lowest 
portions. In its best days it yielded annually seven hundred 
thousand htcndred-w eight of ore, and upwards of three thousand 
persons were employed in it. Second in importance among 
the old mines of Guanajuato is the mine of Los Rayas, from 
which the kings fifth alone, during Spanish possession, was 
$17,365,000. From the mine of El Carmen, in the State of 
Sonora, was taken a lump of pure silver weighing 425 pounds, 
and another is on record which weighed 2,700 pounds. The 
mines of San Luis Potosi have enriched thousands. The story 
has been often told of poor Padre Flores, of that State, who 
bought a small claim, and, after following the vein a little ways, 
came to a cavern containing the ore in a state of decomposition 
(like that found in the Santa Gertrudis), and from this silver 
cave obtained over $3,000,000. 

From the four silver-producing States that hold the lead — 
Pachuca, Guanajuato, Zacatecas, and Sonora — have been ob- 
tained the greater part of that $4,000,000,000, which, it is esti- 
mated on good authority, Mexico has yielded, up to the year 
1884. The mines of Pachuca have an advantageous situation in 
point of contiguity to the Mexican valley, and with direct com- 
munication with Vera Cruz ; and if any mines in Mexico ever 
fulfil the promises of their owners, these should come to the 
front. Experience, however, has demonstrated that more for- 
eign capital has been poured into Mexican mines than has ever 
been taken out of them. England's experiment of sixty years ago 
cost her millions, and Americans should heed the warning. 

Though it may appear from the preceding, that the primitive 
processes are wasteful in the extreme, and that the very rivers 
are carrying away as wastage thousands of pounds of silver 
annually, yet it is doubtful if Americans can substitute for the 
Mexican process any other which will more economically extract 
the metal from ores of so low a grade as only are found here. 

One never knows when he is safe in Mexico, either in person 
or in pocket. Now, though I had spent a week among the 
hills, and had seen nothing of an alarming nature, yet the man 
who rode down with me from the mining region astonished me 



468 



TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 



by relating a circumstantial account of the murder of eight men, 
while I was absent in the interior. These were all miners, and 
they considerately confined their operations to carving one an- 
other. Three were killed in a little hamlet I passed through, 
he said, just after I left it, and yet I did not see a single sign of 
disturbance while I was gone ; in fact, it was a great disappoint- 
ment to me, for I know that a spicy adventure is needed, just 
now, to relieve the monotony of these chapters. 







XXIII. 

TOLTEC RUINS AND PYRAMIDS. 

WE left the great city at six o'clock in the morning, when 
the air was cool, and before the sun had risen far above 
the snow-capped volcanoes that guard the valley, gliding over a 
smooth road-bed, through level fields of grain and grass divided 
by hedges of maguey, past immense savannas where flocks of 
sheep were feeding, tended by most picturesque shepherds in 
sarapes and sombreros, through clean stretches of good brown 
earth, where the corn-blades were just springing in the hollows, 
past great haciendas with buildings like ancient forts surrounded 
by high and loopholed walls, with willows drooping above mud 
huts, and church towers rising everywhere on plain and hill. 
At seven we reached Atzcaptzalco, a little town, and after 
leaving this pueblo again took our way through beautiful plains, 
with fields of peas in bloom bordering the track, and green 
levels stretching far away on either hand, dotted with feeding 
cattle. Above and beyond were grades and curves, and the 
hills were ascended one after the other, and we dipped into 
other valleys and got glimpses of the country farther on. 

Up to Tlalnepantla the rich and easily-worked soil would have 
caused a Northern farmer to open his eyes, for there was not 
even a stone to sharpen the plough upon ; it might be said that 
there were no ploughs either susceptible of being polished by 
friction from stones, for here these primitive farmers plough 
with a stick, as in times most ancient. One small valley we 
passed through belonged, with its surrounding hills and a gem 
of a lakelet in its centre, to one estate. Though the railroad 
£uts along the borders of a worthless hill, still the wealthy pro- 
prietor of this vast estate obliged the company to pay for a 



470 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

right of way. There is room here for some reflection upon 
the rapacity and ignorance of some of these Mexicans, who 
throw every obstacle in their power in front of the wheels of 
progress. 

Cuautitlan, another small town, reached in about two hours from 
Mexico, is much resorted to as a place for festive gatherings. 
Here the bull, the " noble patriarch of the herd," is taken from 
an uneventful life of inaction in the field, and permitted to try 
his prowess against the valiant Mexican. A flaming placard 
announced that there would be a bull-fight in this place that 
evening, — Esplendida Corrida de Toros en la Villa de Cuautitlan, 
— when there would be sacrificed Cuatro Tremendos y Bravos 
Toros. 

A procession of beggars here invaded the train, and brought 
with them the odors of a dozen bone-boiling establishments ; 
they also exhibited for our inspection a greater variety in 
deformity and mutilation than many a hospital can show in a 
year. These loathsome evidences of their claim upon humanity 
they thrust beneath our noses, expecting us to pay them for 
the privilege of inspection. After we had departed, and the 
strong breeze sweeping through the car had permitted us to 
indulge in a long breath, one of the engineers remarked that the 
civilizing effect of the " iron horse " was already being made 
manifest, — he had heard of several of these beggars having 
been run over. It has been a question among old residents in 
Mexico whether it would be better to leave the extermination 
of these wretches to the slow advance of the railroad, or to pass 
laws for their suppression and extinction. A most speedy way 
of killing them off has been suggested, which has the counte- 
nance of enlightened communities : it is to pass a law that 
every beggar shall bathe once a week, — there would not be 
one left alive at the end of a month's time. 

At the hacienda of Huehuetoca, we were fairly in the dry 
country that forms a certain portion of Mexico, where acacias 
and cacti are the only plants of any size, and hills and plains alike 
are brown and treeless. In the crossing of the great ridge of, 
hills that forms the outermost barrier around the valley of Mex- 



TOLTEC RUINS AND PYRAMIDS. 



473 



ico, the engineers of the " Central " have availed themselves of 
a more magnificent piece of engineering than they themselves 
could have afforded to undertake, — a work dating from the 
beginning of the seventeenth century, — the great cut of No- 
chestongo, an immense gap, said to be three miles long, and in 
places two hundred feet deep. Utilizing the work of more than 
two centuries ago, the railroad thus secured an easy egress from 
the great mountain valley, and proceeds by easy grades to the 
country beyond. 

The end of our ride on the railroad was at the small hamlet of 
Salto, for rails had not then — in the summer of 1 88 1 — been 
laid much farther on ; and we left the train and took to horses, 
which had been telegraphed for and were awaiting us. These 
animals we mounted, after many adjustings of stirrups and 
saddles, and galloped off in the direction of Tula. We were a 
picturesque crowd, with our Mexican saddles and accoutrements, 
our revolvers and blankets ; though the novelty of my position, 
on the back of a horse I had never met before, rather interfered 
with my enjoyment of the scene. In five minutes our whole 
party was enveloped in a cloud of dust, so that all one could do 
was to cling to the saddle and let the horse steer his own course. 
We soon reached the Tula River bridge, where three solid piers 
of stone were in readiness to receive an iron bridge that was 
being put together on the banks, and where six hundred men 
were at work in the little vale. They were under the intelli- 
gent direction of a contractor, Mr. Carrigan, who successfully 
managed this large body of Indians and half-breeds, and was 
pushing the work ahead rapidly. It was pay-day, and the men 
were formed in a long line, each awaiting his turn to receive 
his week's wages. A common laborer on the road receives 
about thirty-one cents per day ; and this amount, large as it is, 
he successfully manages, when he gets it, to squander in riotous 
living. 

On our return, the next day, two huge derricks, which we had 
not seen before, were in position, ready to swing the iron bridge 
into place; three days later, it was resting upon its bed of 
masonry, and in less than two weeks more the engine had 



474 



TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 



crossed it on its way northward, and was snorting " Buenos dias " 
to Tula itself. The workmen lived in little huts, made of the 
branches of trees and the leaves of the maguey plant, just large 
enough to shelter them ; and at a point on the river they had 




scooped out holes in the clay banks, and there taken up their 
abode. In the huts, and beneath bowers of branches, Indian 
women were quietly engaged in making tortillas and in other 
domestic duties. Looking upon this peaceful scene of activity, 
I could not help thinking of what a gentleman, an American 



TOLTEC RUINS AND PYRAMIDS. 475 

long resident in Mexico, had said to me, coming up on the train 
from Vera Cruz : " So long as these people can earn a real a 
day on the railroads, they will not listen to the pronimciamiento 
of any revolutionary chief." 

From the bridge we took the graded railroad bed to the end of 
our journey. The scenery was mainly that peculiar to the dry 
hills, except where the aqueduct traced its fruitful course, or 
in the river-bottom. Now and then we were obliged to turn 
aside for an unfinished culvert, or walk our horses over frail 
bridges of brush, earth, and poles, and occasionally the " Cui- 
dado ! " of our guide would warn us of a bad place in the road to 
be avoided ; but at the appointed time we reached Tula, over 
fifty miles from Mexico, and the centre of a populous State. 
In this town we found friends to welcome us, for it was the head- 
quarters of the superintendent of construction and his party. 
Here I found a few friends who had left New York with me 
two months previous, and who had come on here while I 
stopped in Yucatan. 

Surrounded by hills of apparently basaltic rock, the little 
city of Tula is compactly built of stone, taken, probably, from 
the ruins of Indian cities. It has a pleasant little plaza, contain- 
ing a garden of flowers, with a fountain bubbling up in the 
centre of a stone basin. The town was formerly of great 
importance to the Spanish invaders and settlers, and here they 
built their most holy and noble cathedral, dating (if we can 
believe the inscription on the wall) from the year 1 5 53. 1 It is a 
magnificent building, with lofty groined ceiling, and with a col- 
lection of paintings that appear to possess great merit, as well as 
antiquity. One especially, of the Virgin supporting the dead 
Christ, is less a caricature than is generally seen in these holy 
pictures. There is on her face an expression of real suffering ; 
pity, compassion, and all the yearning of a mother's bleeding 
heart, are most admirably depicted. A wall, that once served 
•the purpose of defence, surrounds this great cathedral, and build- 

1 The churches founded at this period, some of which still exist, were Tepoztlan, 
Ayacapistla, Mestitlan, Molango, Cuernavaca, Oculman, and Tula, and were adorned 
with paintings by distinguished masters. 



476 



TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 



ing and enclosure are well worth a visit, even in this land of 
churches and chapels. 

The Tula River runs near, half around the town, and where 
the road reaches it a bridge is thrown across, — a bridge of 
stone, arched, and with a parapet, and with an inscription on 
a tablet stating that it was built in 1772. 

Ancient Tula must be regarded as one of the most interest- 
ing groups of ruins in Mexico, the seat of the people who gave 







SCULPTURES IN THE PLAZA. 



to the country an advanced civilization, of which evidences yet 
exist. Above the city, on a hill overlooking two valleys, a 
ridge about a mile in length, are the ruins of buildings said to 
have been erected before even the Aztecs came to this country. 
In the year 648, according to Prescott, who follows the native 
historian, Clavigero, the Toltecs arrived in this valley and com- 
menced their city; they abandoned it in the year 105 1, and 
the Chichimecs took possession in 1170, and eventually the 
Mexicans, in 1196. Here the last tarried for one hundred and 



TOLTEC RUINS AND PYRAMIDS. 477 

twenty-nine years, took quite a breathing spell, in fact, and then 
went and founded the city of Mexico. It will thus be seen that 
the ruins of Tula have great antiquity. Prescott states that the 
Toltecs are the first people of which we have traditions, coming 
from a northerly direction. They entered Anahuac (Mexican 
valley) probably before the close of the seventh century. They 
were well instructed in agriculture and mechanic arts, and in- 
vented the complex arrangement of time adopted by the Aztecs. 
" They fixed their capital at Tula, north of the Mexican valley, 
and the remains of extensive buildings were to be discerned 
there at the time of the conquest. The noble ruins of religious 
and other edifices are referred to this people. Their shadowy 
history reminds one of those primitive races who preceded the 
ancient Egyptians. After four centuries, the Toltecs disappeared 
as silently and mysteriously as they came." 

Whatever of mystery may have enveloped their advent, their 
disruption as a nation and final dispersion is as circumstan- 
tially told, and is as authentic, as any story or tradition relating 
to that early period. It was at the beginning of the eleventh 
century, if we may credit the Indian historian, Ixtlilxochitl, 
that the seeds of disturbance were sown in the hitherto peace- 
ful kingdom of Tollan, and all through the illicit love of the 
then reigning monarch, Tecpancaltzin, for a woman, a daughter 
of Papantzin, one of his nobles. The sin of Tecpancaltzin, ac- 
cording to the historian, brought with it its punishment, and 
during the reign of his natural son, Meconetzin, the Toltecs 
were destroyed as a people, not only through internal dissen- 
sions and famine, but in a great battle waged with an invading 
nation from Xalisco. They were scattered in every direction, 
but have been traced mainly southward. The discovery of 
pulque, the national beverage of Mexico, dates from this epoch, 
and is said to have been made in this very region. 

Upon examining the ruins on the hill, previously mentioned 
as commanding the town, we found that some one had been 
excavating there. I then recalled the account given by Char- 
nay, the French archaeologist, in which he pretends to have 
unearthed temples and palaces on this very site. Imagine a 



478 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

palace composed of rooms about six feet by eight ! Such 
were about the dimensions of the apartments referred to, and 
which we photographed and rambled over that day. 

Sefior Cubas, 1 in a paper, Ruinas de la Antigua Tollan, pub- 
lished in 1874, gives a list of the antiquities discovered near 
Tula, and lithographed figures of the most prominent sculptures, 
which included a " zodiac " and a " hieroglyph," now seen in 
the lintel of the principal entrance to the great church. In the 
Plaza are some great stones, taken from the ruins of the Toltec 
city. There are three colossal sculptures, perhaps of Caryati- 
des, standing erect, and another lying down ; this last is in two 
pieces, and was formerly united by tenon and mortise, even as I 
found the adornments on the palace at Uxmal. Near the office 
of the railroad superintendent is a great stone ring, like those 
found in the ruins of Chichen-Itza. At the door of the cathedral 
is a beautiful baptismal font, — at least, that is its use now, — 
taken from these same Toltec ruins. Doubtless, nearly all the 
buildings here were made from stone taken from the Toltec 
city, as you may find sculptured stones used for the pavement 
of courts, inserted into walls, etc. 

I have thus roughly sketched the old city at which the 
great railroad arrived in April, 1881. Let tourists and archae- 
ologists visit it, now that they can do so with little fatigue. It 
does not need a more prophetic eye than belongs to ordinary 
man to discern the result of the opening of a country so rich in 
mineral and archaeological wealth. For a thousand years man 
has lived in this country, — a thousand that are chronicled, — 
and no one knows how many previously. The works of his 
hands lie scattered throughout valley and plain, crest many a 
hill, and adorn many a secluded vale. The time is coming 
when these buried cities shall again see the light. The time has 
come when it is possible to reach many hitherto hidden from 



1 The same author gives a table showing the Indian towns and the languages 
spoken, and by this we see that the Otomi predominates, one in which some phi- 
lologists have asserted there is an analogy with the Chinese. The Otomies consti- 
tuted the most ancient population of Anahuac, and were expelled from Tollan on 
the arrival of the Toltecs. 



TOLTEC RUINS AND PYRAMIDS. 48 1 

the world ; daily, workmen are unearthing some relic of the past, 
and if our scientific societies would keep pace with the develop- 
ment of this country, they should appoint a small party of quali- 
fied men to travel over this road with the advanced engineers. 

Tradition has it that here the great culture hero, Ouetzalcoatl, 
developed the civilization that raised the Toltecs above the level 
of their neighbors. Here is pointed out that famous " Hill of 
Shouting," whence the " God of the Air" sent his summons and 
commands over the entire vale of Anahuac. Here were those 
celebrated gardens, in which grew cotton ready dyed in various 
colors for the loom, and those famous crystal and feather palaces. 

Some say that Quetzalcoatl was a native of the East, and came 
from over the ocean. For him, indeed, has been claimed nearly 
every nationality on earth, and he has been by turns a Welsh- 
man, an Egyptian, and even an Irishman ; but, as it is expressly 
stated that he was a man of peace, this last supposition is hardly 
tenable. 

Beyond Tula, and within reach of a day's excursion from 
Mexico City, is Queretaro, a city founded by early Spanish 
settlers, and celebrated for its magnificent aqueduct, its vast 
and enterprising cotton factories, and for the sad part it played 
in the overthrow of the Maximilian dynasty. 

The Hill of Bells, — Cerro de las Campanas, — where the Em- 
peror was shot, is conspicuous near the city, and the objective 
point of many a pilgrimage, now that the railroad has made it 
accessible from the capital. 

Situated southeast of Tula, and about forty miles distant from 
Mexico City, are other ruins intimately connected with Toltec 
history, — the pyramids of Teotihuacan. Both during their resi- 
dence at Tula, and after the disruption of their empire, when a 
remnant of the Toltecs turned their faces in this direction, these 
pyramids were considered by them as the nucleus of a holy city, 
Teotihuacan, City of the Gods. Their kings came here to be 
crowned, and here dwelt their priests; but though their tradi- 
tions undoubtedly refer to these pyramids, yet they are doubt- 
less of pre-Toltec origin. The pyramidal structure seems to 
have been confined to the table land and its central slopes; 

31 



482 



TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 



as in the South, this primitive method of a people yet in the 
infancy of art and architecture is succeeded by grand build- 
ings worthy the name of palaces, 
and adorned with sculptures that 
have elicited the admiration of the 
world. 

The largest structure here is the 
" Pyramid of the Sun," — Tonatinh 
Itzacuatl, " House of the Sun," — with 
a base of over seven hundred feet, and 
a height of two hundred ; the next, 
the " Pyramid of the Moon," having 
one side of its base 426 feet in length, 
another one 511, and a height of 137 
feet. 1 These are the principal pyra- 
mids, but there are also many smaller 
mounds and pyramidal elevations, which 
nearly surround the larger ones, and 
line a broad roadway, called the " Street 
of the Dead." The two pyramids are 
2,700 feet apart; both are built in 
terraces, and to-day have broad level 
platforms at their summits, with path- 
ways much obstructed by ctibris wind- 
ing up their sides. Both are composed 
of rock, stones, cement, and pottery, 
and their ,outlines are hardly any more 
sharply defined, at the present day, 
than an ordinary steep-sided hill. The 
vegetation of aloes and creeping vines 
which covers their sides contributes 
to hide the pyramidal outline, and the 
mortised block at tula, facing of dressed stone, with which 





1 Senor Cubas gives the largest dimensions of any one to these pyramids, as is 
natural, he being a son of Mexico and solicitous for her reputation : Piramide del Sol 
(Pyramid of the Sun), north and south side of base, 232 metres; east and west 
(western face), 220 metres ; height, 66 metres. Piramide de la Lima (the Moon), 



TOLTEC RUINS AND PYRAMIDS. 



483 







their sides were once probably encased, has been entirely re- 
moved in the lapse of time. 

The summit platform of each pyramid once supported re- 
spectively images of the sun and of the moon, covered with 
gold, and glowing so 
brightly as to guide 
the worshippers on 
their way to the val- 
ley to visit this most 
holy place of ancient 
times. No vestige 
of image or statue 
remains, save a great 
carved block, called 
a " sacrificial stone," 
now lying two hun- 
dred yards from the 
Pyramid of the 
Moon, said to have 
been overthrown by 
the Spanish bishop 
of hated memory, 
Zumarraga, and ex- 
cavated by order of 
Maximilian. 

In the western 
face of the Pyramid 
of the Moon we saw 
an opening, which is 
supposed by some to 
lead to hitherto un- 
explored treasure- 
vaults deep down in 
the body of this vast 




east and west line of base, 156 metres; north and south, 130 metres; height, 46 
metres ; orientation, north face of the Moon, from east to west, 88° 30' N. W. ; 
orientation, east face of the Sun, from south to north, i° 30' N. E. 



484 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

structure. By creeping on the hands and knees through this 
narrow passage down an incline for about twenty-four feet, one 
has the satisfaction of reaching a pozo, or well, about fifteen feet 
deep. Farther than this no one has yet penetrated ; yet it is safe 
to say that this aperture was left by the ancient builders of this 
pyramid, and not made by treasure-seekers, as is shown by the 
carefully cut and smoothed walls of the passage and well. It is 
conjectured that the Pyramid of the Sun has a similar opening, 
as yet unknown, because, hidden by the accumulated debris of 
centuries ; and if this is found, it is thought that a larger cham- 
ber will be discovered than in the Pyramid of the Moon, owing 
to the greater length of base, approximating nearly to that of 
the Pyramid of Cheops. Two great peaks rise from the distant 
ridge of enclosing hills, one exactly south and the other north, 
and a line drawn from one to the other of these pyramids passes 
exactly over the apices of both. There may be nothing in this, 
yet it struck me as a remarkable coincidence, as I verified my 
casual observation with the compass, standing on the summit of 
the Pyramid of the Sun. 

South of the Pyramid of the Moon, and running along the 
western base of that of the Sun, is the wonderful avenue called 
El Camino de los Muertos, — the Road of the Dead, or Micoatli, 
lined on either side with tumuli. These mounds have been a 
still greater puzzle to antiquarians than the pyramids, yet it 
would seem that the ancient appellation applied to the place, 
" Path of the Dead," would explain their object. Sefior Cubas 
says that from some of them human bodies have been taken ; 
and it may be that those clay heads that we find scattered in 
such numbers over the plain are the effigies of buried priests 
and kings. These heads of clay or terra-cotta, so grotesque in 
feature and singular in design, are so abundant that one can 
hardly wander over a freshly-ploughed field without treading 
on one. No two of them, it is said, have ever been found alike 
in feature, and this would seem to bear out the theory that 
they were designed as images of the kings, priests, or minor 
rulers. 

Garcia Cubas, in his study of these pyramids, likens the insig- 



TOLTEC RUINS AND PYRAMIDS. 



485 



nificant Rio Teotihuacan, which flows near, to the Nile, and the 
Camino de los Muertos he calls another Memphis ; in fact, he 
finds here a duplication of the pyramids of Egypt. 1 This 
learned Mexican deduces an Egyptian contact with Mexico, 
and argues that the people who constructed the American mon- 
uments, if they did not come directly from Egypt, were at the 
least descendants of others to whom the Egyptians had trans- 









CLAY HEADS OF TEOTIHUACAN. 



mitted their knowledge. But as this was written a dozen years 
ago, the worthy man may have changed his mind by this time, 
and may now view them differently. 

That portion of the plain of Teotihuacan immediately about 
the pyramids is rather sterile, but about the little village of San 
Juan, where clear streams have their birth, near an ancient tem- 
plo, the soil is fertile, and the dwellers there seem contented and 
happy. At all events, they are contented and lazy, and it is only 
by very active skirmishing that one may eventually capture a 

1 Ensayo de tin Estudio Comparative) entre las Piramides Egipcias y Mexicanas, 
Mexico, 1874. 



486 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

boy as guide to the ruins, and it requires equally hard work to 
find a horse. But one's energies are taxed to the utmost to keep 
away the horde of ragged juveniles, who appear with sacks full 
of clay heads, obsidian knives, and curious candeleros, which they 
insist upon your buying. Travellers have wondered, as we 
wonder to-day, at the unlimited supply of these " antiquities," 
as the fields are actually full of them, and we discovered many 
as we rode over them on our horses, and many others we bar- 
gained for with the natives. 

My next visit to the valley's brim was to Tezcoco, the ancient 
seat of learning, — the "Athens of Anahuac," — situated across 
the lake of the same name from Mexico City, some ten miles in 
a direct line, but nearly thirty by the travelled road. My com- 
panions on this occasion were the Rev. J. W. Butler, Methodist 
missionary to Mexico, and Mr. T. U. Brocklehurst, an English 
gentleman, who was also with me at Teotihuacan, and who has 
since written a very instructive book of travels. 

Our mission was to rescue an imprisoned native preacher who 
had been unjustly incarcerated. Him we found in jail, an elderly 
Indian, with as mild a countenance as it is possible for one of 
these natives to have. He had but one eye, and those who were 
instrumental in having him placed in durance vile had taken 
advantage of this fact to creep up, as he was riding along one 
day, and shoot at him from his blind side ; failing in their object, 
they hastened off and lodged a complaint against him — for not 
allowing himself to be shot decently and in order ! He never 
had carried a fire-arm of any kind in his life, he told us ; but 
there he was, securely caged, and some of his parishioners slept 
before the door of the jail every night lest he might be taken 
away and never heard of again. The upshot of it was, that he 
lay in prison three weeks longer, and was then released on a 
promise that he would be more accommodating when shot at 
another time by good and faithful Catholics. Notwithstand- 
ing we read that the South Sea Islanders have discontinued 
the practice of eating the missionary, since the reported dis- 
covery of trichina in some of them, the Mexican hunter is 
not to be deterred by any such canard. He does not hunt a 




AN IDEAL TEZCOCAN GARDEN. 



TOLTEC RUINS AND PYRAMIDS. 489 

missionary for his meat, but from love of the sport, and the 
strong arm of the government alone exerts a repressive influ- 
ence over him. 

We were in Tezcoco, that home of early kings, one of the 
three seats of power in Anahuac at the beginning of the fif- 
teenth century. A mile or two from town, the place is pointed 
out whence Cortes launched his brigantines, at the investment 
of the Aztec capital. At the period of his coming there were 
greater pyramids and richer palaces, and perhaps more ex- 
tensive gardens, than in the city ruled by Montezuma himself. 
Remains now exist here of three large pyramids, or temples, 
masses of adobe brick intermixed with shards of pottery and 
fragments of sculptured stones. Only just before our arrival, 
a gentleman from Chicago, Captain Evans, brought to the no- 
tice of the world a carved stone of goodly dimensions, which 
had been found in one of the adobe mounds a few months pre- 
viously. Over the gateway to the garden, adjoining the old 
church, were three hideous idols, and a search throughout the 
wretched town which now occupies the site of the ancient 
metropolis would reveal many a relic of the departed Tezcocans. 
But little business is done here now, since the lake has left Tez- 
coco miles inland, and a few tiendas and one furda comprise 
shops and hotels ; but the people are well disposed towards a 
stranger, and one can secure tolerable lodging at the " Mace- 
donia," and Mexican meals at the "Restaurant Universal." 

Now reached by the narrow-gauge branch of the Morelos road, 
Tezcoco is easy of access, and no visitor should leave out of his 
journey this once famous Acolhuan city. As for me, I revelled 
in Tezcoco, for it had been known to me, through Bernal Diaz 
and Preseott, for many years. What can be finer in the descrip- 
tions of the older historian than that of the arrival of the timber 
for the brigantines at the border of the lake, when the brave 
Tlascalan Indians marched in, several thousand strong, with the 
lumber on their shoulders, and shouting, " Tlascala ! Tlascala ! 
Castilla! Castilla ! " for the space of half a day? And here, 
too, was the palace of Nezahualcoyotl, the King David of 
Mexican history, whose halls and gardens are so lovingly 



490 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

depicted by the later historian. Where was the grand palace 
erected, and where that temple to the " Unknown God of 
Causes " ? or did they exist solely in the fertile fancy of the 
Indian chronicler, Ixtlilxochitl, himself a descendant of the 
monarch of Tezcoco he fain would magnify? But whether 
exaggerated or not, there was sufficient remaining at the time 
the Spaniards came here to excite their wonder ; and there 
are ruins enough now to testify to an ample city and magnifi- 
cent buildings. 

" Nezahualcoyotl's royal palace measured nearly three quar- 
ters of a mile in length, by half a mile in width. Its vast courts 
were not wholly occupied by affairs of state, but were open for 
the reception of foreign embassies, and as retreats for men of 
science and all literary culture ; and here was gathered the liter- 
ature of the past. The saloons of the royal wives glittered with 
walls of alabaster, or were rich with gorgeous hangings of feather- 
work. These opened into gardens of great beauty, enlivened by 
fountains and the varied plumage of tropical birds. Like Solo- 
mon, the king had gathered to his court and capital specimens of 
all known living animals. The annual supply of grain and fowls 
and fruit for the royal tables was enormous. In the midst of 
this luxury, the king ruled in the main with great justice. And 
according to the superstitions which he held, he might be 
counted an unusually religious man, as well as a philosopher 
and poet." 

In passing, I would call attention to some modern ruins, not 
far south of Tezcoco, in the town of Tlalmanalco, which sur- 
pass any remains, in the former place, of the more ancient 
palaces. 

Back of the present city of Tezcoco and at the foot-hills of the 
mountains supplying the streams which fertilize the plain, the 
wise king constructed a bum retiro, a palace and a garden, and 
here to-day may be found the remains of vast hydraulic works, — 
an aqueduct passing from hill to hill over an embankment two 
hundred feet high, a bath cut from solid stone ; and in former 
years the face of a cliff had sculptured on it what was thought 
to be an Aztec or Toltec calendar. 



TOLTEC RUINS AND PYRAMIDS. 49 1 

Having exhausted the treasures of the town, I proposed to 
Mr. Brocklehurst that we procure a guide and ride out to these 
ruins at Tezcosingo, said to be less than two leagues distant. 
He assented, and while our friend, the good missionary, was 
interviewing the municipal authorities, we hunted up horses, and 
soon found a man who could tell us all about it. We started ; 
but our usual luck attended us, for, after toiling until nearly 
dark, we only came in sight of the hill, our guide having lost 
his way. It was a most vexatious thing, and we were hardly 
repaid by the view we got of the famous Lake Tezcoco, lying 
between us and the Mexican capital, the one like a burnished 
silver shield, the other with walls of alabaster. Our adventures 
ended by a midnight ride in a miserable hack, around the lake, 
to the station at Teotihuacan, where we took the early pulque 
train for Mexico. 



XXIV. 

TLASCALA, PUEBLA, AND CHOLULA. 

AT Apizaco, a station on the Mexican Railway, you leave the 
main line and take a branch to Puebla. Your ticket has 
a stamp on it bearing the likeness of one of the most villanous 
faces it is possible for man to wear. I suppose it is that of 
some old revolutionary hero, whom the Mexicans have shot, and 
then repented themselves, and made amends in this way for the 
injury done, as that is their usual custom. At the small station 
of Santa Anna, you leave the train for Tlascala, — not the town 
of forty thousand inhabitants which Cortes compared to the most 
flourishing cities of Spain, for the entire district has now scarcely 
that number. Probably not more than five thousand people 
now inhabit this ancient town. In the Plaza, which is also a 
very pleasant garden, is a fountain, the brim of which bears a long 
inscription, stating that it was erected by a grand Virey in 1646. 
Here is something savoring of antiquity at the very start; fur- 
ther research will take us back to the very beginning of Tlas- 
calan history, — to those days when the Spanish soldiers were 
honored guests of this very town, when Montezuma was quak- 
ing with fear in anticipation of their arrival. 

In the municipal palace, El Palacio, are four paintings, 
bearing names which the student of history will recognize 
at once as those of allies of Cortes, after he had left behind 
him the hot coast region and had entered and finally won to 
his cause the valiant little republic of Tlascala. They are 
" true and faithful pictures " of Vicente Xicotencatl, Don Lo- 
renzo Mazicatzin, Don Gonzalo Tlanexolotzin, and Bartolome 
Zitlalpopoca, as they appeared to Cortes in 15 19. A score 
of idols cumber the floor of the chamber containing the paint- 






TLASCALA, PUEBLA, AND CHOLULA. 



493 



ings, on the walls of which is the Titulo, or title of freedom, 
presented the Tlascalans by the king of Spain, besides the capote, 
or cape, of the first Indian chieftain who received baptism in 
New Spain. In a glass case is that war-worn banner of Cortes, 
which has remained in Tlascalan possession ever since the subju- 
gation of the Aztecs. It is of a faded tea-colored silk, rent in 
many places, with the arms of Spain in the upper corner; the 
banner-staff is gone, but 
the pike-head that once 
topped this proud em- 
blem remains. 

Above the town, on a 
little hill, is the very old 
convent of San Francisco, 
one of the first of four 
erected by the frailes, in 
1524. Its roof and raft- 
ers are great beams from 
Tlascalan forests, which 
produced the timber for 
the brigantines used at 
the siege of Mexico, but 
which, like the builders 
of those boats, have dis- 
appeared, and its ceiling 
is studded with golden 
stars. Entering the cool 
sanctuary, leaving outside 
all noise, and light, and 

merriment, I find that more than one hundred paintings yet 
adorn the walls of this venerable building, one of which bears 
date Afio 1677, and the finest is of one of the Spanish queens. 
Securely glassed, we see fragments of the bones of three holy 
saints, sent from Rome in 1754. Alas that these relics should 
have survived their possessors, and have fallen into such sacri- 
legious hands ! Everything points to the first years of Spanish 
supremacy ; even the old bell, hanging by precarious clutch in 




EL PULPITO. 



494 



TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 



the tottering tower, is dated 1587, and has on it a figure of a 
conquistador firing his arquebuse into a tree, beneath which 
crouches an abject Indian. Inside the church, we are reminded 
that this town of Tlascala was the first of importance to give 




THE FONT. 



in its allegiance to the king of Spain, and that its claims upon 
history are strong. Here we stand before the first pulpit 
erected in Mexico, — " El Primer Pulpito de Nueva Espana." 
It is of stone, now plastered over and painted in imitation 
of marble, with red and gilt stripes. The inscription on it 



TLASCALA, PUEBLA, AND CHOLULA. 495 

reads, " Aqiri Tubo Principio el Sto. Evangelio en este Nu&vo 
Mundo." Half hidden in a recess, opposite the pulpit, is an- 
other object of still greater interest, though it is nothing but a 
hollowed stone, about five feet in diameter, three feet high, and 
a foot and a half deep. It is called the Fuente de Maxicatzin, 
and is no other than the font from which the great and loyal 
Maxicatzin and his coadjutors, senators of Tlascala, were bap- 
tized. It is not a matter of tradition alone, but of history, that 
when Cortes retreated with the remnant of his army to Tlascala, 
after that disastrous defeat of the Noche Triste, the Tlascalans 
received him with affection, instead of upbraiding him for the 
loss of the thousands of their young men whose lives he had 
sacrificed. To convince him more effectually of their sincerity, 
the senate of Tlascala, with Maxicatzin at their head, presented 
themselves for baptism. Let the inscription on the Fuente tell 
the story: " Este monumento, cuya autencidad conserva la tra- 
dicion, fue la fuente bautismal de los ultimos Caciques o Senores 
de la Antigua Republica de Tlascala; el afio de 1520." 

Night fell about me as I descended the hill and sought the 
only hotel Tlascala could boast, a comfortless meson, merely 
a square surrounded by walls enclosing apartments, — such a 
tarrying-place as suited the traveller when horses and diligences 
were more in use, and all could be stabled within sight of, and 
on the same level with, himself. Early next morning I started 
out with a guide for the church of San Estevan, two miles from 
Tlascala, and built upon the site of the palace of Xicotencatl, 
the Tlascalan chief so basely slain by the Spaniards before Tez- 
coco. A great font is here, made in 1691, and an old painting 
of the baptism of the chief last mentioned. 

In my walk that cool morning, I enjoyed very much the ram- 
ble through such a secluded region, where we met only a few 
shepherd boys, armed with slings and stones, driving sheep and 
goats, and some children going to school. My guide climbed a 
tree and threw down to me some juicy cherries, and led me 
through gardens which smiled such a welcome that they seemed 
to breathe only of peaceful delights. But emerging from one 
of these gardens into the highway, I suddenly stumbled upon 



49 6 



TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 



a cross, — a black, wooden cross, — stuck up in memory of a 

man but recently killed. The frequency of these crosses rather 

dashes one's desire to penetrate new regions in this land of 

insecurity ; — 

" For wheresoe'er the shrieking victim hath 
Poured forth his blood beneath the assassin's knife, 
Some hand erects a cross of mouldering lath ; 
And grove and glen with thousand such are rife, 
Throughout this purple land, where law secures not life." 

From the province of Tlascala, in the middle of the sixteenth 
century, was taken the territory set apart for Puebla, and the 

city founded there, in 1532, 
became subsequently more 
famous than the original 
capital of the plucky little 
republic. The city of Pue- 
bla, to which I made my next 
move, contains more church- 
es and convents to the square 
mile than any other town on 
this continent, — more places 
of worship, according to its 
population, even than Brook- 
lyn. In Mexico City every 
vista of every street is ter- 
minated by a hill or moun- 
tain, blue and hazy in the distance, perhaps, but still there, to 
remind one of the works of nature while contemplating the works 
of man ; in Puebla every vista is cut short by a church, or 
chapel, or some religious edifice. You are confronted at every 
turn by men begging for the Church, beggars with flaunting rags 
and tin cash-boxes, which they display before your eyes, and, 
what is worse, under your noses. Priests, wrapped in great black 
cloaks, form a goodly proportion of the pedestrians ; from some 
door of every block issues the sound of a bell calling to prayer, 
and kneeling crowds everywhere pay homage to the Virgin ; hat 
in hand, the true believer passes through the streets with head 




IN THE CONVENT. 



TLASCALA, PUEBLA, AND CHOLULA. 497 

uncovered, for fear he might pass a chapel unobserved. The 
pervading tone of society here is religious ; little business is done 
here, and little labor, because Sundays and feast days form the 
greater portion of the week. Sunday is, indeed, a general mar- 
ket day, and devoted to buying and selling, but not to work. It 
is strange to find such a contrast to Mexico : there, every one 
does as he pleases ; here, he must devote a certain portion of 
his time, or his earnings, to the Church. 

" Pay or pray," is the inspiring motto the holy men in office 
here have nailed upon the cross. Successful in preventing the 
main line of railroad from passing through or near their city, 
the bishop and priests have, from the beginning, kept Puebla as 
a place set apart from the active life of the world. Rich men 
give of their substance freely ; poor men — and they consti- 
tute the great majority — go clothed in rags that the Church 
may be benefited thereby. They even refrain from using that 
freest of all gifts of God to man, water, and pass from childhood 
to old age without washing face or hands, for fear, perhaps, 
that the money wasted on soap could better be devoted to the 
Virgin. 

Though the government stripped the clergy pretty close 
in its various decrees confiscating their property, and reduced 
them from affluence to comparative poverty, yet the last few 
years have seen a revival of their prosperity. At one time 
they held property to the value of $144,000,000, yielding an 
income of $12,000,000, a great portion of which they lost under 
Juarez and the liberal rulers. Silently, but surely, they have 
pressed the work of recovering their lost property. Though 
the country abounds in ruined churches and convents, yet they 
are principally in districts thinly settled, where the people are 
too poor even to keep the buildings in repair, or in cities where 
there are too many to be filled. The principal churches are 
showing the effects of a revival in business ; walls have been 
repaired, new towers added or old ones built upon, the altars 
freshly painted, railings newly gilded, and the sacred emblems 
and images polished up and decorated. Cautious as the priests 
are in showing their fast accumulating wealth, it cannot but be 

32 



498 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

observed that they are again becoming what they were before 
the adverse decrees of twenty years or so ago, — the holders of 
the moneys of the people, especially of the poorer classes. 

But their confiscated property? They are rapidly gaining 
back a goodly portion of it, or its equivalent. The average 
Mexican is superstitious ; he is valiant in times of peace, vain- 
glorious before a battle, but craven and knock-kneed when the 
time of trial comes. Consequently, when sick and like to die, 
he will probably — no matter how he may have apostatized and 
fought the Church — send for the priest. Mindful of the fact 
that all things of this world belong to the Lord, and that the 
Catholic Church, as the chosen of the Lord, possesses a lien 
upon these worldly goods, the priest refuses to administer the 
sacrament without some restitution. If the dying man has 
bought confiscated church property, he must restore its value, 
with interest, or if he has even owned it at second or third 
hands, and fairly paid for it, he must pay again its value to the 
Church before he can get a clear title to heaven, or his heirs a 
title to his temporal possessions. With a persistence character- 
istic of these priests, they are following up and ferreting out 
their lost effects ; and it may not take more than a decade, at 
farthest, for them to be as strongly intrenched as in the palmi- 
est days of their glory. 

The great cathedral of Puebla is not so large as that of Mex- 
ico, nor has it the merit of being built upon the site of an Indian 
teocalli, as has the other ; it lacks some years of being as old, 
also ; but, to supply all deficiencies of this sort, the priests pro- 
mulgated the story of the repeated visits of the angelic hosts. 
Yes, right here was the last recorded and verified visit of those 
heavenly messengers to the inhabitants of this sphere of ours. 
When they came, why they came, and how they came, is it 
not all entered in ecclesiastical records and sworn to? It is. 
And do not the faithful believe it, every word, and do they 
not point out to you the very place where the angels roosted, 
the very towers of the cathedral they came down to assist in 
building, and the very stones they placed in position? They do. 
As the workmen slept, the angels descended, and added stone 



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TLASCALA, PUEBLA, AND CHOLULA. 50 1 

to stone upon the great towers. There is a miracle in this, for 
the priests say so ; and hence they gave the city the name of 
Puebla de los Angeles, or City of the Angels, which it bears to 
this day. 

The cathedral is mainly built of dark brown stone, covers a 
great area, and is being enclosed with an excellent iron fence, 
every post surmounted by an angel, and its face ornamented 
with a cast of some saint of the past. The fagade of the north- 
ern entrance is embellished with statues and medallions in mar- 
ble, and the mitre and keys of the Pope. In the north face of 
the western tower is a clock. The main entrance is in the west- 
ern front, and here are more statues in various niches, sculp- 
tured saints and cherubim, and the date of erection of the 
cathedral, — 1664. The bronze casts that face the stone posts, 
and the angels that cap them, were produced at the foundery 
of one Marshall, an American, who had been here forty years 
or more. 

If you wish to climb into the towers, you must enter a narrow 
doorway, and ascend a circular stone stairway for some distance, 
when you are stopped by a porter, who demands a real, and, 
this paid, he rings a bell for another man to let you in. Both 
men, with their families, live in the tower. There are two bell- 
towers, one above the other, containing the great bell, stamped 
1729, and eighteen others, of various dates up to 1828. An 
inscription here states that the towers were erected in 1678, in 
the reign of Carlos II., at a cost of one hundred thousand 
dollars. 

The top of the cathedral commands the entire Puebla valley, 
with its broad green fields and swelling hills ; domes and towers 
rise everywhere, and glisten from every hill-top, many of them 
being covered with glazed tiles that reflect the sun. Arid plains 
alternate with verdant fields. Outside the city walls there are 
not many houses visible, except they are collected in pueblos 
or villages, and the haciendas are few, the farm buildings being 
concentrated in one spot, and surrounded by high walls. Though 
the view on every side is charming, with billowy plains running 
south and east, and the great mountain, Malinche, rises in the 



502 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

north and overshadows the city, our gaze constantly wanders 
toward the west, — toward the twin giants, Popocatapetl and 
Ixtaccihuatl, crowned with pure white snow. Between them 
is the gap through which Cortes marched when he first ad- 
vanced upon Mexico, in 15 19, and which I penetrated in May, 
in my ascent of the great volcano. Right in line with this 
mountain pass, with an extinct crater behind it, rises the world- 
famous pyramid of Cholula, its domed chapel glistening above 
its cone of dark green trees. To the east is the road to Vera 
Cruz, over which General Scott marched when on his way from 
coast to capital, after the battle of Cerro Gordo, and before his 
masterly investment of Mexico. 

Just outside the city gates is the fort where the French were 
repulsed on the 5th of May, 1862, in which affair the Mexicans 
won the only victory which they ever gained over anybody but 
themselves, and which they celebrate every year with great and 
joyful demonstrations. Below is the zocalo, or public square, in 
the centre of the city, with the cathedral on the east side, and 
the portales, beneath which much merchandise is sold, on the 
other three. Large trees, in which birds are constantly singing, 
fountains, music, and flowers, make it a pleasant place to visit. 
If any one should follow in my footsteps and visit Puebla, let 
him secure the services of the sexton, and wander over the 
vast roof of the cathedral, and climb the dizzy steps on the 
outside of the eastern dome, for from that point the view is 
magnificent. 

The interior is as gorgeous as that of the cathedral at Mexico, 
and the grand vista down the long nave is fully as effective. The 
base of the great altar is beautiful marble, and so, apparently, 
is the whole altar dome, as well as the fluted pillars supporting 
it ; a bright, though rather questionable effect is given to these 
by strips of brass alternating with the flutings. Fresh gild- 
ing and paint show that the cathedral is in good repair inside. 
If you will sit down awhile in the cool room, you may see the 
priests pass in procession, marching out from some mysterious 
interior, and then marching in again, — priests old and very fat, 
and old and very lean, priests that waddle as they walk, and 



TLASCALA, PUEBLA, AND CHOLULA. 



503 



priests that stick out 
necks and lips in 
seeking after a pos- 
ture of humility". 

Puebla was once 
famous for the riches 
of this cathedral, and 
especially for a great 
lamp of gold orna- 
mented with precious 
stones, said to have 
been worth one hun- 
dred thousand dol- 
lars. This most val- 
uable treasure was 
given by the Church 
to General Miramon, 
who represented their 
party, to aid in repuls- 
ing Juarez, and was 
broken up and sold 
to various parties. 
Here you will see 
fine specimens of that 
clear alabaster, or 
species of onyx, 
known as Puebla 
marble. It is obtained 
from the quarries of 
Tecalli, six leagues 
from the city. Many 
different ornaments 
are made from it ; it 
forms portions of val- 
uable buildings, and 

is even so translucent as to be used for windows, in a small 
church near the quarries. 




PUEBLA AND VICINITY. 



504 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

There are many marble-workers here, and along the river 
that drains the city are no less than fourteen cotton factories, a 
woollen, a paper, and a match factory. The cotton and woollen 
cloths manufactured here, though generally of coarse quality, 
find a ready market throughout Mexico. Railroads have not 
disturbed this sleepy, sanctimonious old city greatly yet, but in 
two or three years it will wake up a little. There is but one 
newspaper here, and no news. The business is mainly in the 
hands of French and Germans, who jealously regard the incom- 
ing Americans, and who will have cause for that feeling in a few 
years, when the coming railroads shall pass through. 

In the State college there is a fine library of old books, 
principally ecclesiastical, and very valuable ones pertaining to 
the history of Mexico. There are said to be some veritable 
paintings by Rubens and Murillo in a private collection in the 
city. As resorts, morning or afternoon, the two paseos, the 
Paseo Nuevo and the Paseo Viejo — the new and the old walk — 
are delightful. Near the former are the sulphur baths of San 
Pedro, which are very refreshing and medicinal, and close by 
is the old convent of San Xavier, partially destroyed during the 
French invasion. 

The bull-ring is in this part of the city, and is in use every 
Sunday ; one day it was for the benefit of a small church, and 
the next Sabbath it was in honor of the feast of " the sacred 
blood of Jesus." The markets are long, low, shingled sheds, 
covering platforms of stone raised about two feet above the 
pavement, where the women and men squat with small speci- 
mens of all the vegetables grown in Mexico. Prices are very 
low : cabbages, six cents per head ; onions, seven for a tlaco, a 
cent and a half; radishes, six for the same amount; eggs, three 
for a medio, six cents; frijoles, four cents per quart; beef, six 
to eight cents per pound ; crockery, — an ordinary pan, three 
cents ; a jar, a tlaco ; a ten-gallon jar, from twenty- five to thirty- 
seven cents, etc. In the shops, articles of domestic manufac- 
ture are equally cheap. I bought a lariat for two reales, while 
the metates, the great flat-faced stones upon which the corn is 
ground, cost only from four to eight reales, and the rolling-pins 



TLASCALA, PUEBLA, AND CHOLULA. 505 

but a medio each. These stones are quarried in the volcano, 
forty miles away, and brought here on the backs of Indians or 
donkeys. One can estimate the value of labor by this, for one 
of them must cost, from first to last, a week of work. 

I enjoyed exceedingly my stay in Puebla, although while 
there I was in a constant state of agitation, owing to alarming- 
telegrams from the North ; for it was that memorable first week 
in July, 1 88 1. We in Mexico at first only received meagre 
news of the great calamity that had befallen the nation in the 
shooting of President Garfield, and in Puebla, where there were 
not half a dozen people who could speak English, there were 
no details given at all. The Fourth of July was a gloomy one, 
to me at least, for the day before came a telegram announcing 
that Garfield was dead, and that the United States was con- 
vulsed with war. It was nearly a week before the true version 
reached me, and during all that time I had no one speaking my 
own language to converse or condole with except a young Chi- 
cago merchant, whom fortune had thrown into Puebla against 
his will. He had come here with a large lot of improved agri- 
cultural machinery, including the latest inventions in mowers, 
reapers, threshers, etc., in company with several other Americans, 
to instruct the natives in their use. His companions had left 
the country, but he had not the means with which to get away, 
and was, to use his own expression, " in a frame of mind." 

" It is just a holy terror," said he; "these people have just 
about worried me to death. Here I 've been here more 'n a year, 
and how many mowers and reapers do you think I 've sold ? 
Well, sir, I ain't sold one ! These Mexicans are just a caution to 
snakes ! Why, they come here and get one of my machines, and 
take it out on their plantations and smash it all to pieces, and 
then say 't ain't good enough for 'em. And the worst of it is, 
I have almighty hard work to get the pieces of that machine 
back to the shop. No machinery is good enough for 'em. 
Here are Mexicans who 've lived all their lives without seeing 
an improved machine of any kind, and who 've ploughed their 
land all their lives with a stick, that are just too wise to learn 
how to do anything. 



506 



TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 



" A few men have got all the land, and they keep it. The 
working people are only slaves, the best of them get only a 
quarter a day, and find themselves. It's no wonder that every- 
body 's a thief. Why, these beggars are so poor that they never 
have twenty cents with 'em over night. Not a thing is wasted, 
the last bone and scrap of meat, and bit of old rag, is carefully 
saved ; why, they 've even driven the buzzards out of the 
country ! A vulture would be ashamed of himself everlastingly 
if he ate and lived among the filth these Mexicans do." 

It happened that we saw some vultures sitting on the trees of 
the Paseo the same afternoon my Chicago friend conveyed this 
information to me ; but he insisted that they were imitations, — 
that a live one could not exist there. 

" This government," continued he, " does everything to 
encourage the hacendado, or proprietor of large estates, to hold 




MEXICAN PLOUGH. 



on to his large tracts of land, and to discourage every attempt of 
a stranger to locate here. There was a Frenchman, who put up 
a flouring-mill and commenced to do a big business. The mil- 
lers here became jealous, and the next thing that Frenchman 
knew, the government clapped a tax of $200 on each set of 
buhrs ; and now that man 's just settin' in his ruins, looking wise. 
And steal ! what you see lying about here that these people 
have n't gathered in, you may set down as not worth stealing. 
They 're on the lookout for something all the time, — and they 
generally find it, too. 

" Look at the haciendas all over the country ; they are like 
forts, not built for protection from Indians, but from their own 



TLASCALA, PUEBLA, AND CHOLULA. 507 

people. Every night the great gate is locked, and whatever is 
behind those stone walls has to stay in, and whatever is outside 
has to stay out, till morning. Everything on the farm is taken 
in under cover, not even one of those old wooden ploughs, pat- 
terned after the first one Noah patented in the ark, is left in the 
field ; at sunset you will see the laborer driving home with the 
plough-beam over the yoke, and in the morning he brings it out 
again. If one of our American ploughs was left in one of these 
fields over night, it would be taken to pieces and distributed over 
the country in forty places, and half of it pawned. And as for 
a harrow, they would n't leave a tooth in it ! 

" Speaking of ploughs, what do you suppose these brutes do 
with one of our Yankee ploughs when they get it? Why, the 
first thing they do is to saw off one handle, and make it as near 
as possible like their old wooden ones ; then they do everything 
they can think of to break it, and fall back on the wooden insti- 
tution which they 've used a thousand years. It 's just a holy 
terror ! Here I am, with a stock of machinery that would set up 
a first-class establishment in the States, that is just rusting to 
pieces ; and these people are only waiting till I 'm tired out, 
when they expect to get it all for nothing. When ygu 've been 
amongst 'em a year, as I have, and have seen what sons of 
Satan they really are, you '11 change your mind about 'em. You 
tourists, who only meet 'em on the street, and see 'em grinning 
and bowing and shaking hands, and embracing you as though 
you was a long-lost brother, and telling you their house is 
yours, and their wives and daughters, and everything they own, 
is at your disposal, you only see one side of 'em. I 've seen both 
sides. I 've tested their hospitality, and have found out that 
there ain't a bit of the real genuine article in all Mexico." 

The horse railways of the city and district have proved quite 
profitable, a single short line within the city limits paying three 
per cent a month. There is a long line in course of operation to 
Matamoras Azucar, a large town in the tierra caliente, distant a 
day's ride by diligence to the southward. It is a branch from 
this that runs to Cholula, reaching it in an hour's ride, and at a 
cost, first-class, of two reales ; second-class, fifteen cents. There 



508 



TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 



is little variety of scenery, and nothing of great interest until 
the hill, or pyramid, is reached. To understand the historic and 
traditional value of this pyramid, we must refer to the historian. 
After mentioning the gods of the ancient Mexicans, he says : 
" A far more interesting personage in their mythology was 

Quetzalcoatl, god of 
the air, a divinity who, 
during his residence on 
earth, instructed the 
natives in the use of 
metal, in agriculture, 
and in the arts of gov- 
ernment Quet- 
zalcoatl incurred the 
wrath of one of the 
principal gods, and was 
obliged to quit the 
country. On his way 
he stopped at the city 
of Cholula, where a 
temple was dedicated 
to his worship, the 
massy ruins of which 
still form one of the 
most interesting relics 
of antiquity in Mex- 
ico." 

The car stops at the 
foot of this monument 
of the past, but you 
might need to be told what it was, if you had formed any precon- 
ceived ideas of it from reading in volumes of authors who have 
never seen it. At present it is not a true pyramid, and so many 
years have elapsed since its construction that it appears scarcely 
more than a natural elevation, or a hill that has been squared in 
places and levelled at the top. But the evidence of its artificial 
construction is plain enough to any one who will thoroughly 




QUETZALCOATL. 



TLASCALA, PUEBLA, AND CHOLULA. 509 

examine it, for he will find sun-baked bricks and mortar where- 
ever any portion has been exposed. Whether these bricks form 
the entire structure is an important question for archaeologists to 
answer ; the only way to settle it is by driving a tunnel beneath it, 
at the base, from one side to the other. Various attempts have 
been made, by excavating, but have not resulted in penetrating 
much beyond the surface ; on all sides, however, are seen these 
great bricks, and, until the tunnel is run beneath it, we must 
assume that the entire structure is artificial, and not a natural 
hill faced with brick. Its height is nearly two hundred feet, 
and at the summit is a church, reached by steps built into the 
irregular sides of the hill, the path winding up the western slope, 
past perpendicular ranges of adobe, beneath various pepper 
trees, and through green bits of pasture which cover the ancient 
playgrounds of the Cholulans. 

In the cutting of a new road, at one time, a square chamber 
was revealed, it is said, built of stone, with a roof of cypress 
beams, and containing some idols of stone, the remains of two 
bodies, and several painted vases. Humboldt gives this pyramid 
the same height as that of the Pyramid of the Sun, at Teotihua- 
can, and says it is three metres higher than that of Mycerinus, 
or the third of the great Egyptian pyramids of the group of 
Djizeh. Its base, however, is larger than that of any hitherto 
discovered by travellers in the Old World, and is double that of 
the Pyramid of Cheops. It is, doubtless, as he claims, en- 
tirely a work of art, but it is celebrated more for its breadth of 
base than its height. 

Its situation on the Mexican table land is at a distance of 
seventy miles south-southeast of the city of Mexico, and at an 
elevation of 6,912 feet above the level of the sea. Humboldt, 
who used simply a barometer, gives its height as 164 feet; 
while the measurements of some officers of the American army, 
made by means of the sextant, determined its true height to be 
204 feet, and its base 1,060. The breadth of its truncated apex 
is 165 feet, and here, where the ancients had erected a shrine to 
Ouetzalcoatl, — " God of the Air," or the " Feathered Serpent," 
— the Spaniards later built a church under the patronage of the 



5IO TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

Virgen de los Remedios. This church is in excellent repair, the 
interior beautifully frescoed and gilded, and the votive offerings 
that adorn the walls are many of them new, and show that the 
people still retain their faith in the Virgin of this shrine. 

Rising from the centre of the fertile and extensive plain of 
Cholula, this ancient pyramid, with its modern capstone, can be 
seen from the distance of many a league. Most beautiful is the 
landscape spread out at its base ! long, level fields of corn and 
maguey are on every side ; villages of low mud huts rise hardly 
above the tops of the corn, so humble the first and so rank and 
luxuriant the last. Conspicuous here are the churches, that 
tower like giants among pygmies above the lonely cabins, adorn 
every hill, and claim attention on every side. They are the 
parasites that have sapped this fair land of its life-blood, — have 
gathered to themselves the wealth of the natives, and kept the 
country poor and wretched for three hundred years. Before 
Cortes drew the accursed trail of his army along this beauti- 
ful country, Cholula, it is related, possessed a population of 
forty thousand souls ; now the little village scarce numbers 
six thousand. In his second letter to Charles V., Cortes de- 
scribes the town as containing twenty thousand houses and four 
hundred " mosques," or temples. Gone are the magnificent 
temples and sculptures that adorned its site ; the books that re- 
corded their traditions were destroyed by order of the Spanish 
priests, and only the ruins of their mighty teocalli, with the 
paltry and contemptible temple of the conquerors, perched like 
the parasitic mistletoe on the rugged oak, remain to attest their 
greatness. 

The village of Cholula lies crouched at the base of the pyra- 
mid. The largest of its religious edifices is the convent, more 
than two hundred years old ; in its spacious court several 
thousand men could be quartered ; it has shared the fate of 
many another of its order, and has been neglected, perhaps 
confiscated, but is now being again brought into use. Perhaps 
I should not have noticed this, had it not been for a severe rap 
these Catholics have administered upon Protestant knuckles, in 
the shape of four large paintings in the chapel. The first rep- 









TLASCALA, PUEBLA, AND CHOLULA. 



511 



resents, by a painting twenty feet square, the martyrdom of St. 
Nicholas and eighteen companions by the Calvinistic Protes- 
tants of Holland, on the 9th of July, 1576, "for defending the 
bodily presence of Christ"; canonized by Pius IX. on the 29th 
of July, 1867. Two more pictures are of two parties of saints, 
who were murdered in 1597 by the Japanese, and canonized 
in 1862; one of these was the " Protomartir Mexicano," San 




PYRAMID OF CHOLULA. 



Felipe of Jesus, with twenty-two companions. He is the patron 
saint of the city of Mexico, which was put under his protection 
in 1629. 

Mexicans generally are the reverse of intrusive, and never, 
as a rule, admit you into the sacred privacy of their fami- 
lies ; but a party of ladies from Puebla, who had come down 
here to attend mass, and have a little picnic at the same 
time, made my acquaintance, and invited me to join them. 



512 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

They would never have done so had I not excited their 
curiosity by carrying a butterfly-net, which, as it was the 
first they had ever seen, prompted them to speak to me, 
their curiosity having overcome their timidity. A naturalist, 
especially one hunting for birds and butterflies, is looked upon 
with pity and compassion, and these ladies shared the general 
impression, — that a man who went about with a gun and in- 
sect-net needed looking after, — and took me under their care. 
It was the ist of July, and they were going to celebrate mass, 
and if I would go with them to church they would later accom- 
pany me in my search for antiquities. So I went to church, 
gun, net, and all, and took a back seat, while my four fair 
companions knelt at their devotions. The church was gayly 
decorated, the kneeling figures, draped in rebozos, were pic- 
turesque, but the service was long and unintelligible ; so I 
took advantage of the absorption of my friends, and slipped 
away. I wandered all day through the fields and in the suburbs 
of this old city, and met with no one who offered to molest me 
or obstruct my path, though this section has a reputation as a 
rendezvous for robbers. 

In truth, as mentioned above, the Mexican has either great 
respect, or great contempt, for a man engaged in so-called sci- 
entific pursuits. A certain German traveller also notices this, 
and mentions how it aided him in securing the passage of his 
effects through the custom-house : " Este cavallero es bota- 
nista, cried the director, giving an order to leave my things 
unmolested. As far as I know the Spanish- American nations, 
scientific occupations are held in very high esteem amongst 
them. It may be fairly said that this feature, originally belong- 
ing to the Spanish nationality, has been greatly developed and 
generalized, as to the colonial population, by the travels and 
highly scientific researches of Humboldt." 

Be this as it may, I know that the name of naturalista has 
often proved an open sesame to places I should not have 
otherwise had the privilege of visiting. It was explained to me, 
by a friend who has travelled extensively in that country, and 
who never carried anything in the way of a weapon of defence, 



TLASCALA, PUEBLA, AND CHOLULA. 513 

that the Mexicano looked upon a man in pursuit of birds, 
insects, or antiquities as " a confounded fool, a crazy man," — 
or tin lunatico, — and, as they never kill or injure such a crea- 
ture, whom they regard as harmless, he may expose himself with 
impunity. This explanation was not tendered me until after 
my return from my first Mexican trip, or I should not proba- 
bly have felt flattered by the innocent attentions of the fair 
sefioras and senoritas, who were so much interested in an Ameri- 
cano carrying a gun and a butterfly-net. 




33 



XXV. 

SIX WEEKS IN SOUTHERN MEXICO. 

' I ^HE principal town of a broad and fertile valley running 
-*- down from Puebla is Tehuacan de las Granadas, noted for 
the abundance of its grapes and pomegranates." Before the 
Spaniards conquered Mexico it was one of the most cherished 
and frequented sanctuaries of the Mexicans, and known as 
Teohuacan, or dwelling-place of the Miztec gods. Its houses 
are of stone, in the Spanish style, with grated windows and open 
courts ; its suburbs are pretty gardens surrounded by green fields 
of alfalfa traversed by vine-bordered lanes. Above the town, a 
league or so away to the east, is a range of hills, the Cerro 
Colorado, famous in revolutionary annals as having been held 
by General Teran, an insurgent chief, for three or four years ; 
a congress, even, was appointed here, and a commission charged 
by the United States to inquire into the causes of the revolu- 
tion of 1810, here held interview with that body. 

A diligence runs to Puebla daily, but with little patronage, 
as a narrow-gauge tramway, a government venture, extends 
south from Esperanza on the Mexican Railway. This tramway 
is well built and economically managed ; the cars are drawn by 
mules, and connect with the up and down trains of the road 
from coast to capital. Nearly all the railway lines of Mexico 
are mainly north of the capital, connecting it with the United 
States,-though in very truth the government is now most anxious 
to extend its system southward. But no American was found 
bold enough to undertake such a venture, requiring vast capital 
and consummate engineering skill for its development, until 
the right man appeared, finally, in the person of our great and 
highly-honored Ex-President, General Grant. He has engaged 



SIX WEEKS IN SOUTHERN MEXICO. 



515 



to continue the Mexican system southward to Tehuantepcc, 
even perhaps to Guatemala, and beyond, to South America. 

It was to investigate the resources of the region to be trav- 
ersed by the " Mexican Southern " railroad, that my companions 
and myself undertook a trip, horseback and muleback, that ex- 
tended eventually over a thousand miles, and through the most 
fertile portions of the great State of Oaxaca. 

It was a Sunday on which we arrived at Tehuacan, and every- 
body was astir ; for a bull-fight was in progress, most of the 
stores were closed in consequence, and the sermons of the con- 
scientious priests held over till evening. So we stopped for the 
night at the Hotel Ferrocarril, and there commenced a prelimi- 
nary skirmish with fleas, that was kept up, with more or less loss 
of blood on either side, for a month. The next morning, which 
was clear, cold, and starlit, we sallied forth from the hotel, 
lighted into the diligence by flaming torches of tarred rope. 
Daylight showed us a dry, almost barren plain, descending 
rapidly in the direction we were going, with haciendas and vil- 
lages in sight far away under the hills. We changed mules, 
putting on eight fresh animals, at the hacienda of Nopala, and 
got breakfast, towards noon, at a town of two houses, called 
Venta Salada. We encountered great crowds of Indians here, 
all going to work. We met them all day, intent on the same 
mission — of going to work, — but which they never seemed to 
reach. In fact, there did not seem to be any to do ; no fields to 
cultivate, — at least within our vision, — and no wood to cut, 
or charcoal to burn. The road was all the way descending, 
and most horrible to travel, the coach first on end, then on its 
side. The whip, with its twenty feet of lash, trailed at the side 
like a great snake, which now and again leaped forth and stung 
the mules to active effort. Hills and valleys were covered with 
thorny acacias and cacti, and no other vegetation occurred for 
the trip, except where a rare brook was found, or a small canal 
led the water to a narrow valley. About noon of that hot and 
stifling day we passed a great stone post that marked the limits 
of the State of Oaxaca, and entered the town of San Antonio 
Nanahuantepec, which had nothing in it so alarming as its name. 



5 i6 



TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 



Here occurred a great fight between Porfirio Diaz and the 
French, in 1863, in which Diaz was badly whipped. The village, 
a few adobe huts with thatched roofs, seems to have suffered se- 
verely, the walls of some old buildings being well peppered with 
bullet-holes. We were reminded that we were in the earthquake 
region by the church bell being housed beneath a thatched tower 

by the side of the building. The 
vegetation here is tropical ; narrow 
lanes run between banks of vines 
and bananas, and there is an im- 
mense field of sugar-cane in the 
valley below. Under the hills in 
the distance was pointed out to us 




HEDGES OF CACTUS. 



the town of Teotitlan del Camino, where, some twenty years 
ago, the Liberal General Mexia (whom we met in Tehuacan, a 
fine old gentleman) was defeated by the clerical party. This 
section fairly bristles with revolutionary points. It would seem 
that the people wished to utilize its worthless territory somehow, 
and so put up a fight at every available place. To reflect how 
the Mexicans have stamped over this desert region, for the ex- 
press purpose of killing one another and kicking one another 
out, reminds one of the man who fenced in a stony piece of 
ground, — so that his cattle should not get in and starve to death. 



SIX WEEKS IN SOUTHERN MEXICO. 517 

After a mile or two through cultivated fields, we again took 
to the hills, and jolted up and down through the same eternal 
stretches of cactus. These were of every shape and variety, 
chiefly of the Candelabrum species, some of them full thirty feet 
in diameter. The very expressive name of this cactus is organo, 
or the organ, since it grows straight up with fluted, hexagonal 
columns, and when many of them are together has a faint resem- 
blance to an organ with its pipes. Hedges are made of them 
which are very durable and easily induced to thrive. The cacti 
are not wholly worthless, as jackasses feed on them when in 
straits for food. Certain species bear edible fruit, and mules and 
donkeys find within them reservoirs of water, and even the goat 
will not hesitate to exchange for them his favorite fodder. 

The only hacienda after San Antonio was Ayotla, a small one, 
some four leagues distant. After this we passed San Juan de los 
Cues, four leagues from the end of the diligence route, where is a 
collection of huts and the finest trees we saw anywhere. This 
place is in a pass between high cliffs, and takes its name from 
some artificial mounds, one of which is very prominent on the 
right of the pass. Beyond this we drove down the river basin, 
crossing a broad stream several times, and drove into Techo- 
mavaca at five, having been fourteen hours in the diligence, 
through a hot, weary day. Techomavaca may be taken as a 
type of a Mexican country village, built out of raw material, 
straw and mud, in the form of a square ; the latter, indeed, is 
about all there is ; it comprises nine tenths of the town, with a 
narrow rim of houses and huts. It must have been a Mexican 
general who, commanding a force of one man, told him to form 
himself into a hollow square, for that is the aim and end of all 
builders in this country. Techomavaca, says an old writer, is an 
Hispano-Indian word, meaning, " The cow will eat thee." We 
found here four horses and a mule, which had been telegraphed 
for to Oaxaca, and sent up to meet us. They were very small 
and scraggy, but tough and lively, and we mounted them at 
five, sharp, the next morning. 

Leaving the town, we bade adieu to all refreshing vegetation, 
and, after crossing a broad river with several channels, entered 



5 l8 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

a landscape similar to that of the day before, — red sandstone 
hills, yielding nothing but cacti and nopals. There was some 
grand scenery as we reached the Rio Grande, where cliffs, three 
hundred feet high, towered above our heads. It grew hot as 
the sun got up and had a square look at us, and the dry land- 
scape of rocks and cacti seemed to sizzle in the heat. At a 
small hut we got a drink of mescal and some tortillas, and a 
league farther on passed three other shanties with native rum, 
or licor del pais, for sale. 

Toward midday a great field of sugar-cane enlivened the 
scenery, occupying a narrow valley made fertile by irrigation, 
and after that appeared the large sugar-works of the estate of 
Guendolain, with coco and fruit trees grouped about them. The 
hospitable proprietor invited us to take breakfast with him, for 
he was a Mexican, and consequently generous to a stranger. 
This hacienda occupies the best portion of the only cultivable 
land in this region. It is the lowest point reached on the trail, 
and so hot that the people say they would rather pass through 
purgatory than through the vale of Guendolain. 
, The afternoon was passed in threading the same bad roads, 
and narrow, gullied trails, and at its close we reached the town 
of Dominguillo, the largest between Tehuacan and Oaxaca, and 
containing less than fifty families, housed for the most part in 
bamboo huts. There was a meson here, or house for the enter- 
tainment of man and beast. The rooms all opened into a corri- 
dor, with rarely a single window, and contained each two hard 
board beds, a chair perhaps, and an abundance of fleas. An 
amateur bull-fight was in progress when we arrived, and all the 
inhabitants were indulging in a fiesta, in honor of some saint. 
A small cattle-pen was turned into a bull-ring, and a calf was 
let loose to be tormented by the boys with sticks and sarapes. 
Later on, a bull was driven in, girths fastened about him, and a 
man mounted on his back. The assembled men then goaded 
him, and he fought them fiercely, trying at the same time to get 
rid of his burden. Finally, becoming frightened, the bull bolted 
for the bars, and got half-way through, but the men pulled him 
back and incited him to fresh charges. When his spirits failed, 



SIX WEEKS IN SOUTHERN MEXICO. 519 

they resorted to a novel expedient. A man bit his tail ! It had 
the required effect, — the bull let fly a kick that sickened that 
unhappy man, dashed at the bars again, and escaped. 

Crowds of dirty women surrounded the fences, and a dozen 
drunken musicians drew doleful strains from battered instru- 
ments. Now and then, some ragged boy set off a rocket, — 
the Mexicans always send off their fireworks by daylight, — 
and everybody was industriously engaged in getting drunk. 
They lay outside all night in stupid inebriety, all — as one of 
them told us — " for the glory of God ! " and we passed them 
next morning as we set off at daylight. There was an elevated 
platform, with seats for the elite and fashion, — a dozen or so of 
Indian ladies, who, we could not fail to notice, wore no stockings, 
though they spread most gorgeous sunshades. 

Half the day previous we had seen a white line drawn across 
these red hills, which was the road we reached that morning. 
It seemed interminable, for it climbed from hill to hill, turn- 
ing and twisting, but ever ascending. Large gangs of Indians 
were at work trying to render the roads passable for a carriage 
for General Diaz, who was soon to be installed Governor of 
Oaxaca. As such a vehicle had never yet passed over those 
roads, it was anticipated that the noble General would experi- 
ence a lively jolting. As we reached somewhere near the sum- 
mit of the higher ridge, after long hours of toil, we had behind 
us a last view of Orizaba, its cone of snow rising above the 
mountains and over the long interval of hills and valleys. It 
is a speaking commentary upon the necessarily tortuous roads 
of this mountainous country, that this volcano should still be in 
sight after three days' travel. 

Four leagues from Dominguillo we reached a pass in the hills, 
locally celebrated as the spot where an untutored Indian, with 
a handful of men to help him, kept at bay three thousand 
French troops, by mounting a few cannon at a point that swept 
the road. High above the trail rise the stupendous cliffs, 
backed by high hills that prevent a road from being made in 
any other place. After taking breakfast, in a small Indian hut, 
of tortillas, frijoles, and mescal, eaten off the dirty floor, we 



520 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

ascended yet steeper hills for some miles, and reached Salomen, 
a group of huts in the centre of grassy slopes and oak-covered 
hills. As the hot, dry country is changed into the warm and 
moist, the ungainly cacti gradually merge into beautiful palms, 
and the landscape is charming. After three days and a half of 
cactus-covered hills, the sight of trees and grass was very in- 
viting. The country had completely changed, and we galloped 
through extensive oak woods for many a league, with noble views 
of an ocean of hills, along the ridges of which we picked our 
way, to a place called Carbonera, containing solely a house of 
dried mud and a cow-yard. An Indian girl was asleep on the 
mud floor, with a naked baby, and her we roused, and begged to 
get us ready something to eat. After cooking some eggs, fry- 
ing over some frijoles, and warming up some cold tortillas, she 
washed, with the same water the eggs were to be boiled in, some 
coarse earthen dishes and her hands at the same time, and 
then, spreading the repast upon the floor, stretched herself out 
in her corner and snored, while we fell to eating, like hungry 
men, as we were. One of our tired and exhausted carga mules 
here had the blind staggers, and one of our horses went lame. 

Leaving this place, we galloped down the hills into the valley 
of Etla, reaching a place called Huitzo at dark, just before. a 
thunder-storm broke over the hills. We were now in the terri- 
tory of the Miztec Indians, inveterate enemies of the Aztecs in 
olden times, whom they always slew at sight, when they could. 
The town is situated at the head of the valley, which, as we went 
southward next morning, we found to increase in area and fer- 
tility. Half-way down, it is crossed by a line of artificial hills, 
one group of which, known as Los Cerritos de la Peiia, we visited. 
These were at least a dozen in number, conical, oval, and quad- 
rilateral, within an area of a few acres. We examined them 
carefully, but found nothing beyond a few shards of pottery; no 
implements even, though ornaments of gold, silver, and bronze 
have been discovered here. They lie near the town of Etla, on 
the eastern foot-hills, near which the golden throne of the last 
Miztecan king is said to be buried. Two great tribes of Indians 
occupied this valley in former years, the Zapotecs and Miztecs, 



SIX WEEKS IN SOUTHERN MEXICO. 523 

who fought a terrible battle near this spot, in which the latter 
were beaten. A curious fact was brought to our notice here, — 
that, while at Huitzo the people speak the Miztec language, in 
Etla, only four leagues distant, they speak the Zapotec. 

Bidding adieu to our courteous guide, Don Jesus Filio, we 
reached, after hard riding along magnificent fields of corn, 
through which the Etla River runs, the outskirts of the city of 
Oaxaca, where we found Don Jose, our companero, an ex- 
colonel of artillery, awaiting our arrival at a cross-road, whence 
he escorted us to the Plaza and to the Hotel Nacional. There 
we footed up our first week's journey and found that in five 
days' diligent travel we had accomplished but two hundred and 
twenty miles, divided as follows : by tramway, first day, thirty 
miles ; by diligence, second day, sixty miles ; by horseback, 
third, fourth, and fifth days, one hundred and thirty miles. 

Guaxaca (Oaxaca, pronounced Wahhdka), says a writer of 
nearly three hundred years ago, " is a Bishop's Seat, not very 
big, yet a fair and beautiful City to behold, which standeth 
threescore leagues from Mexico in a pleasant Valley." The 
seat of this ancient bishopric is a triple vale, a trefoil in shape, 
with the capital city, Oaxaca, at the stem. From the north 
leads in the valley of Etla, with its broad river meandering 
through a billowy sea of corn-fields. This river turns south as 
it reaches the city and runs towards the Pacific, through the 
valley of Ejutla, while the third vale, known as Tlacolula, trends 
westward. Whichever way the eye may wander, the view is 
bounded by hills. The city itself is built at the foot of a hill, 
as it slopes to the river, a broad, fiat-roofed plain of stone build- 
ings, above which, every few squares, are thrust up domes and 
towers, of cathedral, churches, and convents, with the various 
plazas indicated by dark-green masses of trees. 

Each valley is about twenty miles in length and from two to 
four miles broad, and from the sterile hills that enclose them to 
the lowest depression of the basin the soil gradually increases 
in fertility. This valley, or conjunction of valleys, if not the 
objective point of the Mexican Southern Railway, is at least 
the most important on the line. It is the centre of the State, 



524 



TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 



contains the richest land and largest sugar plantations, and its 
city is the most considerable south of Puebla and the capital. 
The valleys, all of them, present a delightful blending of the 
vegetation and productions of different regions, for the high 
altitude of the upper lands (5,000 feet) combines with the almost 

tropical climate in such 
a manner that the 
fruits of every zone 
may be gathered here, 
— ■ cotton in the south- 
ern borders, alfalfa, 
arnatto, rice, sweet 
potatoes, cacao, sugar- 
cane, beans, pulse, 
maguey, corn, pota- 
toes, wheat, vanilla, 
pecans, almonds, oran- 
ges, coffee, — in fact, 
there is little doubt 
that the whole list of 
tropic, of semi-tropic, 
and of temperate fruits 
and vegetables may be 
well represented be- 
tween the southern 
and northern valleys. It is claimed that the hills are covered 
with valuable woods, such as mahogany, cedar, rosewood, royal 
palm, and an infinite number of plants valuable to the materia 
medica. But though all these trees may have been indigenous 
here, most of them have long since been cut down and de- 
stroyed ; for in above one thousand miles of wanderings we did 
not see any extensive forests of valuable timber or cabinet 
woods. 

From the hills immediately above the city of Oaxaca one looks 
down upon as fair a scene as he could wish, — upon smooth and 
verdant fields of cane and corn, dotted with white stone hacien- 
das and with Indian hamlets springing up at the base of every 




COFFEE. 



SIX WEEKS IN SOUTHERN MEXICO. 525 

hill. About the villages and the buildings of the sugar estates 
are trees, and across the valley of Tlacolula a line of giants 
stretches from hill to hill; but, except among the distant sier- 
ras, you cannot see any not planted by the hand of man ; there 
are few natural groves or forests. This scarcity of trees is 
doubtless owing to the fact that this region has been inhabited 
almost from time immemorial. To this, again, we may trace 
the thorough cultivation of Southern Mexico. There is not 
a valley, vale, or hill that is not or has not been cultivated, 
wherever there is a chance to scrape with a hoe, or prod with 
a sharpened stick. The more level stretches, the great basins 
filled with alluvium, are owned by rich hacendados, or land- 
owners, and the Indians are forced toward the outskirts, where 
the hills lap over into the valleys, and thence they carry their 
little gardens and fields of corn up toward the crests. Not a 
foot is left untilled ; not a rod of those brown, denuded hills 
covered with a few inches of soil that is not occupied. 

It was an agricultural race that the Spaniards found in posses- 
sion of Mexico, — a people that had held and tilled the soil 
for hundreds of years before the white man heard of the New 
World, — not a savage horde that subsisted by the chase. As a 
consequence, we find every portion of this southern republic 
susceptible to the influences of the hoe and plough carefully 
and exhaustively cultivated. One may ride through leagues of 
territory, with an Indian settlement only at long intervals, and 
wonder at the thriving appearance of the fertile fields, in decided 
contrast to the parched and barren hills. Two things seem 
strange: first, where the people are who till these fields so 
thoroughly ; and, secondly, how they can cover so much terri- 
tory by day and occupy so little space by night. It is only 
when an immigration agent comes along, or some one desiring 
to secure property, that one obtains a conception of how closely 
human beings can stow themselves. A village of one hundred 
Indian huts may contain two thousand people. And no one of 
these huts would be considered worthy of use as a donkey-shed 
in the North. But let it be noised through their town that there 
is any movement on foot for introducing immigrants into that 



526 



TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 




GENERAL MARKET, OAXACA. 



section, and the Indians will 
pour out of those huts like a 
swarm of angry bees out of 
a hive. It will seem as 
though there was at least 
one Indian for every square 
foot of territory. These are 
the objections to Oaxaca, 
and to all Mexico, as a resi- 
dence for immigrants : first, 
every available rod of soil 
is owned and worked ; sec- 



SIX WEEKS IN SOUTHERN MEXICO. 527 

ondly, it is too far from any great centre for an outlet for pro- 
ductions ; thirdly, they must compete with Indians, with whom 
a pair of trousers is an unheard of luxury, who sleep on the 
ground, eat from a gourd, and work for twenty-five cents a day. 

From the earliest times, Oaxaca has been looked upon as 
El Dorado, the traditional land of gold. The chief tribute to 
Montezuma came from the sands of its rivers, and the Spaniards 
were told that the unconquered Indians living there guarded vast 
and unknown treasures. But this was in the time of Cortes, when 
the conquerors were sending out in every direction for gold. 
Believing it to be what it was described to him, Cortes arrogated 
to himself the title of Marquis of the Valley of Oaxaca, and the 
faith in its riches has been maintained, though without suffi- 
cient reason, to the present day. In the catalogue of its natural 
wealth are included silver, gold, copper, lead, iron, slate, and 
coal, and perhaps quicksilver and precious stones. We met 
here several very intelligent gentlemen who owned mines of 
both gold and silver, and I take pleasure in here recording our 
indebtedness to Senores Romero and Endner, of the Oaxaca 
mint, and Don Constantino Rickards, a most generous and hos- 
pitable Englishman, who has lived in the country thirty years, 
and possesses valuable mineral property. 

Antequera, the Beautiful, was the ancient name of the capital, 
now known as Oaxaca of Juarez. It contains twenty-six thou- 
sand seven hundred inhabitants, of which number, judging from 
the proportion seen at church and in the streets, more than 
twenty thousand are Indians. Like every city in Spanish Amer- 
ica, it has its plaza, or central square, adorned with a fountain 
and shaded by trees, with seats for the people and a music-stand 
for the military band. Facing the plaza is the cathedral, with 
its facade guarded by many saints, disposed in niches, some of 
whom have been sorely shaken by earthquakes, that were once 
the scourge of this city, and may be the cause of the air of 
general decay, or rather of restoration, that pervades the place. 
There is scarcely a block that has not an unfinished building in 
it ; and as to the streets, they seem to be maintaining a per- 
petual and running fight with the streams that plough them on 



528 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

their way down from the hills. Aside from deep gutters that 
cross the main thoroughfares, heaps of filth and refuse obstruct 
the way, making the city, as it appeals to at least two senses, 
the sight and smell, more objectionable even than the city of 
Mexico. The houses are low and massive, of the style of archi- 
tecture that prevails in all Spanish cities in Mexico, with walls 
of stone and grated windows. In situation, the city is superb, 
commanding the three grand and glorious valleys ; and perhaps, 
under the administration of General Diaz, it may attain to the 
acme of healthfulness and beauty which its situation, five thou- 
sand feet above the sea, and its climate, should give it. 

The place most sought by us when in the city was the plaza 
in front of the municipal palace, which, on Saturdays, was the 
resort of the various Indian tribes living among the hills, who 
came in and took undisputed possession of it and the adjacent 
portales. The Mexican market-place has been described by me 
in previous chapters, but I cannot refrain from again alluding to 
the portales ■, which usually surround it. If there were any that 
surpassed those of Oaxaca in length and symmetry, I think those 
of Yucatan are entitled to honorable mention. Beneath these 
arcades the affairs of the huckster and small dealer are generally 
carried on in the morning ; at noon their shade tempts the town 
vagabond to slumber there, and at night they afford a lurking- 
place for the evil-minded lepero. 

The most famous building here of recent times is the Institute 
of Oaxaca, in which college were educated Diaz, Romero, Jua- 
rez, Mariscal, and many other Mexicans who have had a widely 
extended reputation. It exercises its beneficial influence over 
five hundred students, and the natural result of it is shown by 
an enumeration in the city alone of over seventy lawyers and 
seventeen doctors. In the library of the Institute are fourteen 
thousand volumes, some of note and rarity, principally the 
spoils of the suppressed conventual establishments of the State. 
The favored students wander about cool corridors, and in a 
neat little garden in the patio, where are several objects of 
Indian antiquity, a harpy eagle, and brilliant macaws, which lend 
an added interest to this spot, made sacred to Mexican youth by 



SIX WEEKS IN SOUTHERN MEXICO. 



529 



its association with the names of their famous countrymen pre- 
viously mentioned. 

The chief of our expedition was provided with letters to all 
the principal men of Oaxaca, and while awaiting permission 
from the authorities to visit the Indians of the sierras, we made 
a side trip into the valley of Ejutla, southward. After examin- 
ing the little known ruins of Monte Alban, and visiting an old 
convent, where the patriot Guerrero was shot, in 183 1, we ended 
our journey in this direction at the town of Cuilapan, formerly a 
great city of the Miztecs, and containing a large adobe mound, 
in which copper axes, mirrors, and golden ornaments have been 
found. Even now, the inhabitants of this place speak the Miztec 
tongue, while at Zaachila, a near town, the Zapotec is spoken, 
and farther up the valley, nearer Oaxaca, is a small colony of 
Indians whose language is the Aztec. This little body of aliens, 
sandwiched in between Zapotecs and Miztecs, is doubtless a relic 
of the great Mexican invasion of the fifteenth century, when the 
armies of Montezuma, after penetrating as far south as Tehuan- 
tepec, were driven back by the allied kings of the country. So 
rich was this valley at the time of the Spanish invasion that the 
soldiers of Alvarado had the natives make for them spurs of solid 
gold, which were worked with great skill. 

Many are the stories told here of those early times, so numer- 
ous that half a volume might be filled with them, and so fasci- 
nating that I reluctantly pass them by. But we will leave 
antiquities and traditions for a while, and glance at an ancient 
industry, which, originating here, has made this region famous the 
world over. In this same village of Cuilapan we found ourselves 
in the original home of the cochineal, where, enclosed by hedges 
of the organo, were little gardens of the nopal, or cochineal cac- 
tus. The anciently used kermes, or " scarlet grain," was replaced 
by the cochineal insect, which furnished the brilliant dyes, crim- 
son and scarlet, after the conquest of Mexico by the Spaniards. 
This precious dye — more valuable once than at the present day 
— is obtained from the dried bodies of the female cochineal 
{Coccus cacti), which feeds on the leaves of the Opimtia cochinil- 
lifera, and other cacti closely allied to the prickly-pears, and called 

34 



53Q 



TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 



nopals and tunas. The insect is so small that it is calculated that 
it takes above seventy thousand in the dried state to make a 
pound. It always remains attached to the spot at which it was 
hatched, and its body grows rapidly as it absorbs the juice of 
the cactus, until legs, antennae, and proboscis can hardly be 
distinguished by the naked eye. The female, which alone pro- 
duces the dye, is detached from the leaf just prior to the escape 
of the young from the egg, when she contains the greatest 
amount of coloring matter, and killed by being plunged into 
boiling water, or placed with heaps of others in hot ovens. 

Since the discovery of aniline dyes cochineal has steadily 
fallen away in value, until now it hardly pays even the Indian to 
raise it. It is now worth but ten dollars the arroba, but formerly 
brought one hundred dollars, when immense fortunes resulted 
from its cultivation. The Indians affirm that Oaxaca was the 
original habitat of the cochineal, whence it was taken to Guate- 
mala and the Canaries. 




XXVI. 



THE WONDERFUL PALACES OF MITLA. 

I TRUST my readers will pardon my frequent allusions to 
antiquarian research; but, craving the modern Mexican's 
pardon, the old vastly predominates, in certain portions of 
Mexico, over the new. 

Ruins without end are scattered over these hills and through- 
out the alluvial plains, indicating the vast number of inhabitants 
that must have been at one time, or in successive ages, concen- 
trated here. Those spanning the valley of Etla have been 
already mentioned ; but the great aboriginal mounds are equally 
numerous in that of Ejutla, while immediately above the city 
of Oaxaca are the extensive mounds and fortifications of Monte 
Alban, that proclaim the former existence there of a wonderful 
civilization. These, though examined by me, our space forbids 
me to more than mention, but in the valley of Tlacolula, twenty 
miles southeast from Oaxaca, is the crowning achievement of 
those ancient peoples, in the palaces of Mitla, the former abode 
and the places of burial of the Zapotec kings. No ruins in Mex- 
ico, and probably none in America, are more elaborately orna- 
mented, in their peculiar style, than these. 

Lying between two great groups entirely different in the 
architecture of their original buildings, this Mitla assemblage 
of stone structures possesses peculiarities belonging neither to 
those of Yucatan, to the northeast, nor to those of Central 
Mexico, to the northwest. Though from its geographic posi- 
tion it should form a connecting link between the two great 
systems, yet it does not, but stands out peculiarly conspicuous 
for its singularities of architecture and ornament. 

When our party found itself within twenty miles of Mitla, and 
with a couple of days' leisure, it decided to go there at once. 



532 



TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 



But " at once " being words not found in the Mexican vocabu- 
lary, we were not surprised to find, on assembling in front of the 
hotel at the time appointed, that the horses we had engaged 
were not there. After a protracted search, we found our mozo, 
and wrathfully demanded why he had not returned to inform us 
of his inability to furnish the horses. " Para que ? " said the 




GRAND HALL, MITLA. 



astonished mozo. "What for? Was it not sufficient for you to 
know that I was not there? " 

Late in the forenoon he made his appearance with an anti- 
quated coche, drawn by three horses and two mules, and we 
rode out through the gate of the city in triumph. At the 
gate and beyond we encountered hosts of Indians coming in to 
market, the poorest of them bearing heavy burdens strapped 
to their backs, secured by a broad band over their foreheads, 
the more fortunate riding in rude carts with wooden wheels, 
laden with corn and charcoal. 



THE WONDERFUL PALACES OF MITLA. 533 

Two leagues out, we entered the Indian town of Tule, which 
is famous all over Mexico for its giant savin-tree, more cele- 
brated, however, for its breadth than height. It is no mean 
rival of the gigantic baobab of Africa (Adansonia digitata), 
which Humboldt considered the oldest organic monument on 
the globe, but the largest examples of which, as near as I can 
ascertain, measured but thirty-four feet in diameter. This tree 
of Tule — tule is the Aztec name for bulrush — measured around 
its trunk, at five feet from the ground, 146 feet, following its 
irregularities ; longer diameter of the elliptical trunk, 40 feet ; di- 
ameter of its spreading bulk of branches, 141 feet; height, about 
160 feet. This grand old arbol is in the centre of the village, in 
the enclosure containing the parish church, which it completely 
overtops. Its vast bulk can be seen rising above the plain at a 
long distance from the village, and it is said to have sheltered 
the army of Cortes, when on its terrible march to Honduras, 
three hundred and sixty years ago. 

Our road beyond lay over a fertile plain to Tlacolula, a fine 
town with many good buildings, in a region of aboriginal 
mounds. In the outskirts, the houses were surrounded by 
hedges of cactus, with gates made of canes, enclosing fields of 
corn. The main road to Tehuantepec branches off here, and 
we left it and bore more to the east, through a lateral valley, 
where the soil was poorer, though bearing thin crops of cane 
and corn. We rode under high cliffs full of caves and holes, 
in which a miserable people found shelter, and great rocks were 
set up on the ridge, as though the milestones of the Cyclops, 
to guide one to the valley of Mitla. After rounding these 
cliffs, the semicircular valley opened out, with an Indian town 
lying at the bottom, and the ruins hidden behind it surrounded 
by hills on three sides. Two great trees stand in the centre of 
the town, landmarks visible miles away, and beneath these some 
dozen or so of women were holding market in the open air as 
we drove up. The only good house in the village was that of 
Don Felix Quero, this being of stone, and all the rest of mud 
or adobe. We were surprised at the neatness of the house, 
which surrounded a great square yard, containing orange and 



534 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

pomegranate trees, and above the clean, flagged court hung 
cages of parrots and mocking-birds. We got here a very good 
dinner, and clean beds, which are generally rare articles in the 
country districts of Mexico. In the market-place of the town, 
we found a great stone pillar twelve feet high, and scattered 
about were mounds of adobe ; but the real ruins were situated 
across the river. 

The Indians here are Zapotecs, and not only speak their 
ancient language, but retain their old customs and manners. 
When they meet, they salute by carrying the hand of their 
neighbor to their lips, especially when a young person meets an 
older one. Though the Indians of the valley are Zapotecs, 
about eight leagues distant, in the almost inaccessible hills, are 
Indians who speak a distinct language and differ from them 
in many respects. These are the Mixes ; their chief town is 
called Ajutla, and they are said — though I do not believe it 
— to retain the cannibalistic feature of their ancient sacrifices. 
They certainly yet sacrifice birds, wild animals, and fowls to 
their gods, being only nominally Catholics, and being as great 
heathens as ever. Owing to this belief, that they sacrifice and 
devour all strangers visiting this country, no white men go 
there ; but, being a lean man, I think I would not hesitate to 
venture a visit. These cannibals have ever preserved their inde- 
pendence ; they were never conquered. The Spaniards sub- 
jected the Aztecs, Tlascalans, Miztecs, and many others, but the 
Mixes have always maintained their liberty. The town was full 
of them the night of our arrival, it being Saturday, on their 
way to market in Tlacolula and Oaxaca. This was their half- 
way place, where they passed the night, though the next morn- 
ing they departed before daylight. They brought with them 
oranges, peaches, and peppers ; these they carried in nets, on 
the backs of mules and donkeys. We bought thirty large 
oranges for six cents, and a mule load, or five hundred, for a 
dollar. These people seemed not quite so dirty as the Zapo- 
tecs, who were immaculate as compared with the Mexicans, — 
the Aztecs. 

It was a simple life opened to us in that Indian village, primi- 



THE WONDERFUL PALACES OF MITLA. 



535 



tive as at any period prior to the conquest ; in the morning the 
women brought out their calabashes of peppers, Chili beans, 
and fruit, and squatted down beneath the great tree, waiting for 
a customer, spinning industriously the while; and this they kept 
up all day long, chatting and gossiping till evening fell. 

We devoted several days to the exploration of these ruins at 
Mitla, known to the world only through vague accounts given in 
archaeological works ; and it is from the fact that their history 




COURT OF MONOLITHS. 



is so obscure, and that no popular descriptions of them have 
been given, that I assume that my readers will be interested in 
a description of these " dwellings of the dead." 

Mitla, says the eminent antiquarian, Bancroft, author of " The 
Native Races of the Pacific Coast," is probably the finest group 
in the whole Mexican territory. Here was a great religious 
centre, mentioned in the traditional annals of the Zapotecs, 
the original name of which seems to have been Lioba, or Loba, 



536 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

the place of tombs ; called by the Aztecs Miquitlan, Mictlan, 
or Mitla, " place of sadness," dwelling of the dead ; often used 
in the sense of hell. The gloomy aspect of the locality ac- 
cords well with the dread significance of the name. A stream, 
with parched and shadeless banks, flows through the valley; 
no birds sing, or flowers bloom, over the remains of the Zapo- 
tec heroes. 

Humboldt, though he describes them, never saw these ruins. 
The first exploration was in 1802, by Don Luis Martin and 
Colonel De la Laguna from Mexico, who visited and sketched 
the ruins, and from whom Humboldt got his information. In 
1806, Dupaix and Castenada, and in 1830, the German traveller, 
Muhlenpfordt, made plans and drawings which were published, 
the originals of which may yet be seen in the institute of Oaxaca. 
Muhlenpfordt's plan, given by Bancroft, is said to be the only 
general one ever published. The French archaeologist, Charnay, 
took photographs of Mitla a score of years ago. 

There are five groups of ruins, three of which are in excellent 
preservation. A portion of the village is built among them, and 
lies near the bed of the shallow and treeless river. After cross- 
ing this river-bed you enter the little adobe hamlet, where the 
only vegetation is cactus and nopal, and find yourself unexpect- 
edly amongst the ruins. As they do not lay claim to regard 
so much on account of their height as for their extent and 
elaborate ornamentation, the wall of the first rises before you 
while you are yet unaware of its vicinity. Though it contains 
some immense blocks of porphyry, and traces of hieroglyphic 
painting, its ruin is more complete than the second group, to 
which we anxiously hastened. The first collection is about one 
hundred and twenty feet by one hundred, and the walls, fifteen 
to eighteen feet high, enclose a large court, on three sides of 
which are rooms. The outer walls of all the ruins are composed 
of oblong panels of mosaic, forming grecques or arabesques. 
There seems to be no sculpture on the walls, but only this 
peculiar mosaic, formed of pieces of stone, each one about 
seven inches in length, one in depth, and two in breadth, accu- 
rately cut, and fitted into the face of the wall, forming patterns 



THE WONDERFUL PALACES OF MITLA. 537 

so complicated in their nature that only the accompanying 
engravings can properly represent them. This mosaic, all the 
figures of which are rectangular or diagonal, gives the distinc- 
tive character to Mitla that distinguishes it from all other ruins. 
The facades of the Yucatan ruins are carved, while Palenque is 
noted for its sculptures and stucco in bas-relief, and Copan for 
its idols and altars. We are overwhelmed with the magnifi- 
cence of this great work as a whole, and impressed by the care- 
ful execution of the details of this stupendous undertaking. 

Beneath a wall of the northern building is an underground 
chamber, known as the subterraneo, in the shape of a cross, each 
arm about twelve feet long, five and one half feet wide and six 
and one half feet high. The immense block of stone that covers 
the junction of the two galleries is supported by a monolith, 
called the " Pillar of Death," from a tradition that whoever 
embraces it will die before the sun goes down. To the hor- 
ror of our Indian guides, each of our party took particular pains 
to embrace that pillar most affectionately, and we still live. Tra- 
ditions are rife about these ruins. One relates that from this 
subterraneo leads a long, underground passage, across the court, 
to another subterranean chamber, which one account represents 
as full of treasure, and another as full of mummies. The soil of 
the court has been dug over at various times by treasure-hunters, 
and it is confidently believed that two old Indians residing here 
are cognizant of an immense amount of buried gold and silver; 
but they will not reveal it, and merely extract sufficient to keep 
them comfortable. 

We crawled into the subterraneo, which was about three feet 
square, and, as it seemed to extend farther, our archaeologist was 
fired with the desire of opening it. Accordingly, having secured 
permission from the jefe of the village, he set a dozen Indians at 
work, some with long steel ox-goads, to sound the cavities, and 
others with wooden shovels. The result of a whole day's labor 
was to show that there was formerly a tomb there, but that the 
passage, if any existed, had been filled up hundreds of years ago. 
The interior of this chamber was of faced stone, with panels of 
that wonderful mosaic, which was repeated in adobe bricks. 



538 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

The third group is the most interesting, since not only are 
the outside walls cut in mosaic, but there are several rooms 
and courts, the sides of which are a labyrinth of grecques. The 
lintels of this and the adjacent ruin are immense blocks of por- 
phyry, one of which is nineteen feet in length, a solid block 
of stone, raised to its present position by some lost process of 
engineering, certainly by one that is unknown to the Indians 
of to-day. The rooms are narrow, and at present open to the 
sky, but were once undoubtedly protected by a roof. But what 
distinguishes the ruins of Mitla from all other remains of Mex- 
ican architecture is, as stated by Humboldt, six columns of 
porphyry, fourteen feet in height, which are ranged in line in 
the centre of a great hall. They are very simple, having neither 
pedestal, capital, nor architrave, but stand as almost the only 
examples of the kind found in American ruins. 

Above these ruins is a stone church, in the central portion of 
this bench of the foot-hills on which they are built. We entered 
the curacy adjoining the church, which was simply the old build- 
ing of the Indians, roofed with tiles, and were hospitably received 
by the cura, who recounted to us the traditions respecting his 
strange abode. This ruin is larger than the others, being 284 
feet long and 108 wide, with walls five or six feet thick. Two 
great stone pillars, twelve feet high, stood in front of the door- 
way. The walls had the same ornamentation of diagonal mosaics, 
and the portion used as a stable contains the best preserved 
fragments of paintings in the ruins, of characters resembling the 
Egyptian, exquisitely colored in red and black, the colors yet 
fresh and bright. The cura was very intelligent, though he had 
Indian blood in his veins, and he had very clear ideas as to the 
uses of the various buildings. The first group, he said, was 
probably used as quarters for the troops ; the second, the largest 
and most elaborate, was the palace of the king of the Zapotecs, 
who came here two or three months in each year, as to a buen 
retiro ; the third and highest building, from which and out of 
which the church was built, was used by the priests, and these 
paintings that adorned the panels in the walls were probably 
hieroglyphical, and in their custody. 







THF MTTT.A 



Km 

m 

SCULPTURE, A LA GRECQUE. 
(From a Photograph.) 



THE WONDERFUL PALACES OF MITLA. 541 

There was one more ruin, a pyramidal mound about seventy- 
five feet in height, faced with stone, with a series of stone steps 
fronting westward, and containing to-day, like the pyramid of 
Cholula, a chapel on its summit. " I am inclined to believe," 
says Bancroft, " that Mitla was built by the Zapotecs at a very 
early period of their civilization, at a time when the builders 
were strongly influenced by the Maya priesthood, if they were 
not themselves a branch of the Maya people." Scattered over 
the ground, as about the pyramids of San Juan, near Mexico, are 
idols of clay and rude implements of stone. The children 
brought us many, some excellently carved, flat heads of terra- 
cotta, that probably once served as ornaments for the walls 
against which they were stuck. Mention is made of stone 
wedges, and axes and chisels of copper, having been found in 
the ancient quarries, yet visible, not far distant from the ruins. 
That the hills about are full of ruins which no one has seen of 
late, we were fully convinced. We visited several sepulchral 
structures of stone, their inner surfaces carved into the same 
strange shapes as adorned the walls. 

Professor Bandelier, sent out by the Archaeological Institute 
of America, had remained here twelve days, but had not seen 
these paredones, or Indian walls, in the hills which we visited. 
The first one we saw at the hacienda of Saga, and Mr. Bliss 
and myself visited it while Mr. Ayme carried on his measure- 
ments and excavations at Mitla, from which it is one league 
distant. It is called the " subterranean palace," is beneath the 
house of the proprieter of the hacienda, and was discovered 
some twelve years ago. The first intimation that this modern 
house had been built above a tomb of the departed Indians was 
from a phosphoric light, that a servant saw dancing over an ap- 
erture in the floor of the main hall. An excavation revealed a 
vast vault in the shape of a cross, each arm of which was about 
thirty feet in length. Three skeletons were found stretched out 
in it, which crumbled to dust on exposure to the air. The 
sides of the great blocks, about five feet in height, were orna- 
mented after the fashion of Mitla, but instead of mosaics the 
figures were cut from the solid stone. This was of a fresh red 



542 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

color, and the raised portions in relief were burnished. Perhaps 
all those on the walls of Mitla were, at one time ; but these 
alone have preserved their color, by having been buried. 

We effected our descent to the tomb through a hole covered 
by a loose plank in the floor, and escaped from the damp and 
dismal place in the same way. Then the courteous proprietor 
supplied us with horses, and we ascended the high hills in quest 
of the paredones above the valley, — a most tedious climb, over 
ridges and through barrancas. We found the largest paredon 
in a dense thicket on a hill commanding the whole valley, near 
the gap through which passes the trail to the Mixe village of 
Ayutla. A sepulchre is formed here, of massive blocks, in the 
form of a cross, about ten feet deep, six wide, and thirty long. 
All the inner faces of these immense blocks are sculptured, like 
those at Saga, while other dressed rocks are scattered about. 

About two miles from Mitla is a high hill, the top of which 
has been levelled and fortified. A wall of stone from ten to 
twenty feet in height completely surrounds it, in all more than 
a mile in length. The hill is about six hundred feet high, pre- 
cipitous and inaccessible except towards Mitla, where the wall 
is not only double, or overlaps, but the entrances are not oppo- 
site each other and penetrate the walls obliquely. After a very 
hard climb we reached the summit, where we found the remains 
of adobe dwellings, great heaps of stones, as though gathered 
for defence, and thousands of fragments of pottery. There were 
also great rocks poised near the battlements, as if ready to be 
toppled over upon an enemy attacking from below. The for- 
tification follows the contours of the cliffs, at all points present- 
ing a perpendicular face to assailants. The hill completely 
dominates the little valley hidden from the world in this roman- 
tic spot, and overlooks the larger valley outside and all the dry 
plains and hills about Mitla. It was evidently built by a differ- 
ent people from those architects of the palaces below, and it 
must have served well as a place of defence. Terrible battles 
have been fought here, one of the greatest of which, if we may 
believe tradition, was regarding the possession of Montezuma's 
daughter. It seems that the king of the Zapotecs and the king 



THE WONDERFUL PALACES OF MITLA. 



543 



of the Miztecs each desired the daughter of the Mexican king 
for his son to marry. She was given to the Zapotec, upon which 
the king of the Miztecs made war upon him, and a sanguinary- 
battle was fought upon this very hill, overlooking the palaces of 
the Zapotec king, and the Miztecs were defeated. 

At sunset, we descended from this deserted fortress to the 
valley that lay below. A solitary plain stretched before us, 
covered with rock and stone, and a few dry bushes. It was late, 
and even the pasture boys had gone to their huts, and all was 
still. As I walked down the steep slopes, I thought upon what 
this valley must have been when Mitla was in its glory, swarming 
with the flower of Indian nobility, with men of intelligence, 
architects of skill, and warriors of renown. How did this little 
valley support them all? Was it always so dry and sterile? 
Where are those people now, and how long is it since they 
built these palaces and tombs? 

On our way home- 
ward we visited the 
town of Teotitlan, the 
" dwelling of the god," 
so called because the 
chief deity of the In- 
dians once had his 
residence on a high 
peak overlooking the 
town. We were met 
by the alcalde, who 
wore nothing but a 
hat, shirt, and sandals, 
but who carried a sil- 
ver-headed cane as a badge of authority. The people of the 
village were clad in rags and were very dirty, while the children 
roamed around with no covering to their nakedness but their 
hats, and some of these even were brimless. 

A thunder-storm came over and prevented much exploration, 
but we discovered several large stones, one with a carved rep- 
resentation of a tiger on it, and bought a few very curious jars, 




THE NEW DISCOVERY (SCULPTURED STONE). 



544 



TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 



or pots, of peculiar make, and very uncommon. The traditions 
of this place are well preserved, and though the people are in- 
hospitable, an archaeologist of perseverance could pass a most 
profitable season among the hills and in the valley of Tlacolula. 

Some years ago, in this valley, a great discovery was made of 
a large number of copper axes ; nearly a bushel of them were 
ploughed up, by a very intelligent friend of ours, Senor Fidencio 
Fenochio. Unfortunately, as they were of nearly pure copper, 

they were melted 
down, to be used in 
the reduction of sil- 
ver. But our party 
secured a number, 
and the six that fell 
to my lot were the 
first, so far as could 
be ascertained, ever 
brought to the United 
States. Two of these 
went to the Smithso- 
nian Institution, and 
four to the Peabody 
Museum of Archaeology, at Cambridge. Upon analysis they 
proved to be almost unalloyed, the Smithsonian specimens con- 
taining 98.7 per cent of pure metallic copper, the balance being 
iron, arsenic, and antimony. Prof. F. W. Putnam, a high au- 
thority, describes these specimens, as well as all others known 
of American aboriginal copper ornaments and implements, in a 
paper which is unquestionably the most valuable contribution to 
our knowledge of the subject. 1 Among the " axes " obtained 
by me were two of the shape of the Greek Tau, of pure cop- 
per and very thin. A figure of each type is here shown, 
reduced in size. Although the larger and thicker specimens 

1 See Fifteenth Annual Report of the Peabody Museum of American Archaeol- 
ogy and Ethnology, Cambridge, 1882. In this Museum we find arranged, (through 
the indefatigable industry of Professor Putnam,) not only collections of the an- 
tiquities of Mexico, but specimens of indigenous products illustrating the growth 
of native industries in modern times. 




TWO TYPES OF " COPPER AXES." 



THE WONDERFUL PALACES OF MITLA. 545 

may have served as axes, yet the tenuity of the smaller ones 
forbids any supposition that they were so used. They most 
probably served as currency, and as articles of tribute. 

After our return to the city of Oaxaca, our chief projected a 
series of expeditions to the hill towns and mountain districts of 
the great State, which involved three long and fatiguing jour- 
neys among the Indians of the sierras, where gentes de razon, 
or " reasonable men," were scarcer than the gold which was 
the object of these expeditions. We rode, in all, over nine hun- 
dred miles, horseback and muleback, and our adventures were 
of such a romantic character as to be almost out of place in a 
sober book of travel. At all events, the space at my disposal 
will not permit me to include them, and I hasten on to the con- 
clusion of my explorations in Southern Mexico ; though with 
extreme regret, for notes made from the saddle are always more 
interesting than those from a car window, and fresh fields far 
more fascinating than a region traversed by beaten paths. 

Our friend and companion on these excursions was a noted 
horseman of Southern Mexico, Don Santos Gomez, who pro- 
vided the best of horses and the safest of mules, conducting 
us to our destinations with the tender solicitude of a mother. 
Each caballero of the party was fully equipped after the Mexi- 
can fashion, which is the best in the world for travel on horseback. 
On his head he wore a broad sombrero, or felt hat, of native 
manufacture, and from his shoulders, in the cool of morning or 
evening, depended the sarape, or blanket shawl, also the pro- 
duct of native skill. Having a slit in the centre, through which 
the head was thrust, it fell around him in graceful folds, hiding 
the broad belt about his waist, which contained a cachillo, or 
broad-bladed knife, and his revolver, and covered likewise the 
saddle, as well as a goodly portion of the beast he rode. For 
the rain he had his manga de agua, or rain-cloak, a rubber 
sarape, like the poncho of South America, so broad and ample 
that it not only protected the rider from rain, but could be 
spread out over the animal beneath him from head to tail. 

The sarape, I am inclined to believe, is an aboriginal garment, 
worn by the Indians of Mexico in pre-Columbian times. It is 

35 



546 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

made about two metres in length and one in breadth, nearly 
always with a short fringe at either end, and generally colored 
in bright stripes with native dyes. It is, in fact, a long, gay- 
colored blanket, with a slit in the middle, always parallel to its 
longer sides, which is the centre of a pattern-work more or less 
ornamental, according to its nature and price. I have noticed 
that there is a similarity of pattern in all the sarapes which 
have come under my observation, the ornamentation of the 
centre being always in certain zigzag lines, which reminded me 
of the grecques on the walls of the palaces of Mitla. 

We did not adopt the extreme Mexican costume, as worn by 
our guide, Don Santos, with leather breeches, or shaggy goat- 
skin chaparreros, nor deck our heels with enormous silver spurs, 
— which, though often several inches in diameter, are less cruel 
than the needle-pointed English ones ; nor were our jackets of 
embossed and silver-braided leather, nor our pantaloons orna- 
mented with silver buttons adown their seams. For we had 
assumed the garb of the Mexican only as it should contribute 
to our comfort, and were not intending to lay siege to any fair 
senorita, — if perchance any such existed in the sierras, — or to 
display ourselves otherwise than as caballeros en viage, or gen- 
tlemen on a journey. 

Coming down from our third and last trip into the hills, on 
the 8th of September, it was found that the next steamer for 
the United States would sail from Vera Cruz on the 13th. To 
reach the nearest point on the railroad to the coast necessi- 
tated a horseback ride of one hundred and seventy miles, clear 
through to Tehuacan, over an extremely rough mountain road, 
and with scant three days to do it in. Don Santos, who had 
been a most active courier in the Franco-Mexican war, and 
had served in various prommciamientos , volunteered to place me 
in connection with the railroad within three days, or kill his 
best horse in the attempt. And he did it, without damage to 
his gallant stallions, but at an expense to myself of a fever, which 
has racked my bones at intervals ever since. 

My good guide left me at the station in Tehuacan, where, 
after placing in my hands the bridle of the horse I had ridden 






THE WONDERFUL PALACES OF MITLA. 



547 



so many long days and nights, and to which I had become 
devotedly attached, he embraced me with all the affection of a 
brother, and wished me God speed on my journey. He was a 
type of the true and trusty guide of Mexico ; may he long 
survive to guide other travellers where I have been ! 

To one who has trav- 
elled for nearly two 
months with no other 
means of transportation 
than mules and horses, 
the sight of a railroad is 
most refreshing. Even if 
he make what may be 
called a Mexican connec- 
tion, — that is, find him- 
self just twenty-two hours 
late for the train, — he 
has consolation in the 
fact that he is again in a 
portion of the country 
where a train runs at stat- 
ed intervals, even though 
but once a day. I had 
been in the saddle, previ- 
ous to reaching the sta- 
tion of Esperanza, for 
sixteen days ; in the last 
three, had ridden one hun- 
dred and seventy miles, 
sixty in the last day, and had reached the railroad in a state of 
exhaustion and fever, for which the great heat of the southern 
valleys, in violent contrast to the cold of the high plateaux, 
was mainly responsible. 

Two months previously I had left Cordova for Southern Mex- 
ico, taking with me but little luggage, as the travel was to be on 
horseback, and had left nearly all my effects with a worthy man 
whose acquaintance I had made but a few days before. At that 




DON SANTOS, CABALLERO. 



548 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

time the yellow-fever was within eighteen miles of Cordova and 
rapidly advancing up the mountains. Now it was in the town 
itself, and raging still more fiercely than at the coast, and it was 
reported that the small-pox was carrying off such as the vomito 
spared. Three telegrams, sent in advance, elicited no response 
from my friend, and I feared he had departed, a victim to the 
vomito, until the dreaded station was reached, and my luggage 
found in possession of the agent. 

It is a very strange fact, — but nevertheless a fact, — that, no 
matter how much the vomito has devastated a place, the promi- 
nent people all seem to be spared. Here in Cordova, it was 
reported, a dozen people had died daily for a month, yet at the 
depot there were the same officials, the same porters, even the 
same women and children selling mangos and pine-apples. 

Dreaded by many is the passage through the city of Vera 
Cruz during the summer or the autumn months. Every pre- 
caution is taken against delay there, and people en voyage hurry 
through hardly daring to draw a deep breath till safe on ship- 
board. My calculations had been made with an eye to this 
fact, with the intention of going direct from train to steamer; 
but there was a great obstacle to the carrying out of this 
plan. As we got down clear of the mountains and were cross- 
ing the Llanos, we were saluted by furious blasts ; the palm 
trees were wildly lashing their trunks with their long leaves, 
and the wind whistled and howled through the train. 

A chronic complaint along the coast of Vera Cruz is that blast 
of Boreas called the " Norther." It swoops down upon the sea 
like a bird of prey, sending ships ashore, and laying low many a 
forest monarch and many a residence on land. The open road- 
steads of this coast offer no protection, except for the slight 
shelter afforded by the island and castle of San Juan de Ulua, in 
the bay of Vera Cruz. The sea dashes over the quay in great 
waves, and over the sea-wall into the streets, covering the custom- 
house with spray, and the houses of even the back streets with 
incrustations of salt. The wind howls through the streets, fill- 
ing everybody with sand and consternation; but it is a wel- 
come visitor, nevertheless, and the amount of disease and fever 






THE WONDERFUL PALACES OF MITLA. 549 

germs it dislodges, and sends off to be dissipated in thin air, 
cannot be calculated. During the " Norther " all the small 
boats and lighters are drawn out and hauled up beyond the 
reach of the surf. Larger boats and steamers are made as 
snug as possible, and the crews rejoice in a short period of 
enforced leisure. 

By this series of gales the steamer was detained three days 
beyond her usual time of leaving, and I, after having made such 
frantic efforts to reach her, after having ridden so fast and far to 
catch her, found myself stranded (as it were) in Vera Cruz till 
the storms were over. Then we departed from this glorious 
country, from this land of surprises, of deep, impenetrable for- 
ests, shrouding from human view cities born thousands of years 
before our history began, and at the port of Progreso, at the 
extreme tip of Yucatan, we finally said good by to Mexico. 

Seven months previously I had landed on this very shore, a 
stranger, not knowing a single soul. I had gone into the inte- 
rior, and had since travelled many a mile through the forests and 
over the plains and mountains of New Spain. Now I was re- 
turning to the " States," laden with the spoils of many a foray in 
historic fields, and rich in the recollection of many friends, — pur- 
sued, perchance, by the curses of a few enemies. It seemed 
like parting from scenes of home, when we steered away from 
Yucatan, and the low sand-hills, with their fringes of palms, 
amongst which nestled red-roofed houses, sank down behind 
the sea. 

Two days later, we were dodging the carriages in the streets 
of Havana, and listening to the band, at evening, as it filled the 
cool air with music in the Parque de Ysabel. Havana, too, was 
stricken with yellow-fever, but we heard more of it before we 
reached the port than after we had entered it. Indeed, the port 
officials, rotten with pestilence and jaundiced with past fevers, 
wished to place us in quarantine, instead of warning us against 
infection on land. But we sauntered on shore, and took 
aboard cargoes of sugar and tobacco, and really gave the fever 
little thought. Nor had we any occasion to, though we were 
saddened, and reminded that the climate of Mexico was not 



55o 



TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 



entirely perfect, by the death of one of our number, only one 
day out from Havana. We buried him next morning at sea, 
almost within sight of the Florida coast, and three days later 
we crossed the Gulf Stream, and entered the harbor of our 
grandest city. 




BOOK III. 



THE BORDER STATES. 






" O vale of Rio Bravo ! Let thy simple children weep ; 
Close watch about their holy fire let maids of Pecos keep : 
Let Taos send her cry across Sierra Madre's pines, 
And Algodones toll her bells amidst her corn and vines ; 
For lo ! the pale land-seekers come, with eager eyes of gain, 
Wide scattering, like the bison herds, on broad Salada's plain." 



XXVII. 



BY RAIL TO NORTHERN MEXICO. 

I AWOKE, one morning, on the banks of the Rio Grande, 
the great river separating the two republics of the North, 
with twenty-five hundred miles between me and the city from 
which I had departed five days before. I had left it in the 
gloomy twilight of an evening in May, on the first day of that 
month of disappointments. 

O the kaleidoscopic changes of that ride by rail ! We left 
New York with hardly a tree in blossom ; in Western Penn- 
sylvania, the cherries, peaches, and pears were bursting into 
bloom ; in Ohio, they had hidden their skeletons of branches in 
sheets of pink and white ; and in Indiana and Illinois, as the 
great road trended southward, foliage and flower vied in its dis- 
play of verdure and efflorescence. 

Night fell about us in the centre of the famous Horseshoe 
Curve, partially veiling its glories and its beauties ; but before 
the second day had drawn to a close we had reached the Missis- 
sippi, had crossed its miracle of a bridge, and had entered the 
city which stands at the confluence of our mightiest rivers, — St. 
Louis. Thirty-six hours and a thousand miles parted us from 
the great metropolis of the coast ; but we did not stop here, for 
a train was in waiting in the great Union Depot, and it was but 
a step from Eastern to Western track ; another iron steed was 
harnessed into our carriage, and in another hour we were divid- 
ing the mists that lay above the Missouri prairies. At daylight, 
next morning, we were half-way across the State, at ten o'clock 
we sliced off a corner of Kansas, and at noon were in the Indian 
Territory. When I sought my berth that night, the third of the 
journey, we were still speeding across the boundless Indian prai- 



554 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

ries ; but when I awoke, next morning, the beautiful plains, with 
vast herds of cattle feeding on them, and covered with flowers 
of every color, proclaimed our entrance into Texas. Diagonally 
across this grandest of States we drew a southward-trending 
line, and the thousand pictures that danced before our eyes — 
that appeared, vanished, and were replaced by others, which in 
turn waltzed away into space — were seen through the crystal 
plate of a hotel-car window. We ate, we played, we slept ; we 
awoke refreshed, to renew the blissful experience of the day 
that had passed, with an ever-recurring change of scene. 

And so, as I said at the beginning, we reached the Rio 
Grande, where I opened my eyes from my fourth night's rest- 
ful repose, and left with keen regret the shelter of my tempo- 
rary house on wheels. 

It is at San Antonio, one hundred and fifty miles from the 
Rio Grande, that one first enters a really Mexican settlement. 
Beyond San Antonio, running south, the great inclined plane of 
Texas, which slopes to the Gulf of Mexico, and which is fertile 
in the northern and central portions of the State, becomes more 
sterile, and is covered with chaparral, of cactus, yucca, and mes- 
quit, — vegetation anything but attractive, though shading a 
peculiarly sweet and nutritious grass, which renders this region 
desirable for the cow-boy and ranger. It is not my purpose to 
describe other country than that pertaining to Mexico ; yet in 
Texas we find ourselves in a former province of New Spain, and 
at San Antonio in an ancient Mexican town, set down in the 
centre of a very pleasant and fruitful region. 

The scenery of this section, though" of the finest, is less at- 
tractive to me than its history; for here were established, as 
early as 1690, by monks coming up from Oueretaro and Zaca- 
tecas, those frontier missions of Mexico. The "Mission Period " 
lasted from 1690 to 1820,. or so long as the Spaniards held pos- 
session of Mexico ; but at the opening of this century, Texas, 
although a province of New Spain for one hundred and fifty 
years, was almost unknown to Americans. Austin's bold project 
of colonization opened it to the North, and in a few short years 
it became more populous and prosperous than any State of the 



BY RAIL TO NORTHERN MEXICO. 555 

Mexican confederation. Then came the inevitable trouble be- 
tween the hardy and independent citizens of this remote prov- 
ince and the military rulers sent to govern them from Mexico. 
After the massacre of the Alamo, in 1836, the Mexicans lost 
men, and courage, and territory, until the last was finally entirely 
wrested from them, and the limits of Old Mexico fixed at the 
Rio Grande, instead of the Rio Sabinas. 

But, except to pause a moment to gather up these scattered 
threads of history that connect San Antonio with the country 
we are about to visit, we have no cause to linger here ; our des- 
tination is Mexico. Let us return to the Rio Grande. The 
Mexican monks pushed their religious conquests into the Indian 
country, founding fortified posts as far east as San Antonio ; but 
there was no permanent settlement on the Rio Grande until 
1737, when the Presidio of Laredo was established. Herds of 
cattle and horses gradually extended over the intervening coun- 
try, and to the south and west ; but at the breaking up of the 
colonies, in 1820, these became the prey of the Indians, or ran 
wild, and gave rise to great droves of mustangs, which were in 
later years found grazing here in countless numbers. 

So complete became the desolation of this southwestern 
section that, when General Taylor marched with his army from 
Corpus Christi to the Rio Grande, in 1846, it is said that not 
an inhabitant existed there. It was not till 1850 that the re- 
populating of this portion of Texas commenced, when the mus- 
tangs were caught or killed, and the foundations laid for that 
great enterprise of stock-raising, to which alone this arid region 
is adapted. Over this apparently worthless territory the stock- 
raisers of Texas are now quarrelling bitterly, and running fences 
in every direction, one owner alone having above one hundred 
miles of barbed wire around his ranch. 

Along the entire length of the treacherous Rio Grande, there 
are few natural passes through the sterile hills that guard its 
banks. Laredo is situated at one of these, and is the objective 
point for the great railways, which are shooting their steel shafts 
across the Border, and which take no heed of men or towns, but 
seek for passes with natural advantages. It is the largest town 



MEXICO. 



in Webb County, which has an area of fifteen hundred square 
miles, and lies along the river. Its climate is mild, though trying, 
and cattle are pastured throughout the year, though only about 
one tenth the county area is fit for cultivation. The population 
of the county is about eight thousand, which represents a gain 
of six thousand in ten years ; and its taxable property $2,000,000, 
or a million and a half more than in 1870. Laredo itself con- 
tains about six thousand inhabitants, constantly increasing in 
number, and the American element yearly gaining on the inert 
and useless Mexican. 

Every town on the Rio Grande has its counterpart on the 
opposite side of the river, and so there is here a new and an old 
Laredo. One, the American, is busy, prosperous, progressive ; 
the other, the Mexican, is idle, lifeless, and gone to decay. Yet, 
notwithstanding that the American Laredo has such an unde- 
sirable neighbor, it is advancing with mighty strides, dragging 
after it the moribund carcass of its sister town, which it is all 
but resuscitating, in its own efforts to enter into a new and 
quickening life. It is an American town engrafted upon a Mex- 
ican stump, but which might have been a yet more vigorous 
shoot if it had been a seedling in virgin soil, instead of a nurs- 
ling with decaying roots. 

There are few beautiful buildings in Laredo, but these are 
ambitious ones, such as the court-house and jail, which cost 
nearly sixty thousand dollars, and those of the several railways. 
If I were writing of the Laredo of five years hence, I should 
speak of handsome and substantial structures, for these are des- 
tined to be built. The Mexican character of the town is visible 
in its plaza and church, the former treeless, and the latter more 
barren of ornament than is usual in the houses of worship in 
Catholic Mexico. 

The town has a bank, several second-rate hotels and first-rate 
bar-rooms, many large mercantile houses, an "opera-house," a 
ten-thousand-dollar school fund, telephones, and water-works, 
and electric lights in prospective for the very near future. Yet, 
withal, Laredo is set down in the midst of a landscape that is 
absolutely heart-rending in its dreariness, and rejoices in a cli- 






y; 




BY RAIL TO NORTHERN MEXICO. 559 

mate that, though healthy, is most discouraging and appalling, 
alike to resident and new arrival. It is hot, but that is nothing; 
it is windy, but that does not signify ; yet when heat and wind 
combine, and the one scorches the Rio Grande sand until it is 
fine grit, and the other hurls it into the air in whirlwinds of dust, 
then the dweller in Laredo muffles his head and curses his un- 
happy lot, while the temporary sojourner curses likewise, but 
departs. But for the heat, and the sand, and the fleas, and the 
Border Mexican, it would be pleasant to live in Laredo, if one 
were not obliged to gaze continuously upon its joyless scenery. 
But as Laredo is the " gateway " to the promised land of Mex- 
ico, one need not remain here if he choose to go farther, for 
here two great international lines cross the Border and invade 
Mexican territory. One hundred and sixty-seven miles west is 
Corpus Christi, the Gulf terminus of the " Mexican National " 
railroad, while to the north is San Antonio, connected with 
Laredo by the " International and Great Northern." Here the 
" Oriental," the southern courier of the vast " Gould System " 
of railroads, leaps straight across the river, penetrates the tierra 
caliente, or hot coast region, and draws a direct line for Mexico 
City. Thence it will be continued southward by the " Mexican 
Southern," a concession controlled by General Grant, and event- 
ually may penetrate the confines of Guatemala, and even Central 
and South America. Who knows? With a management pre- 
sided over by the greatest general of our armies, and the skilful 
organizer of our railways, it is possible that within a decade of 
years one may obtain, over the " Gould System " of roads, a 
through ticket from New York to Panama, or from St. Louis to 
Quito. All possibilities seem limitless, after an inspection of the 
great lines of the Southwest, thrown into Mexico through the 
force of genius and enterprise. 

The muddy Rio Grande was bridged by the railways but little 
over a year ago, until which time it had always been crossed by 
ferries. It was in the dry season ; at that time it was but a gen- 
tle stream, meandering sluggishly between its sandy banks, and 
which a man could almost wade across. It endured the igno- 
miny of being spanned, without remonstrance ; but as the melt- 



$60 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

ing snows fed its mountain sources, far away in Colorado and 
New Mexico, and its multitudinous branches swelled its current 
to a torrent, it then, in the expressive language of the West, 
"just humped itself," and bore those bridges triumphantly away 
to the Gulf on its turbid bosom. But it is not always that 
man proposes and river disposes, for the structures of iron and 
stone now built will be able to defy old Rio Grande in his wild- 
est mood. 

The bridge we crossed, belonging to the " National," was built, 
it was said, in eight days. The distance from Laredo to Monte- 
rey, our destination, is one hundred and seventy miles, for the 
road does not directly approach it, as land is worthless here, and 
a road must zigzag over the country, and cover a good deal of it, 
in order to get some return for its outlay. It would seem that 
Nature intended the broad and arid Rio Grande valley to be for- 
ever a dividing line between the two republics; though steam 
and electricity were things not taken into account in the original 
plan of the continent, so that excellent roads now span otherwise 
impassable areas, and conduct to fertile fields beyond. 

The frontier is crossed at about seven in the morning by the 
daily train which reaches Monterey at six in the evening. On 
the Mexican side of the frontier the luggage is examined by 
gentlemanly customs officials, and later on the road a polite 
young man makes pretence of peeping into your valise ; but 
further than this there is no inconvenience, and you would not 
know that the smoothly-running train was not in the United 
States. The " National " is a narrow-gauge (three feet), but the 
cars are wide and comfortable, and those of the first class con- 
tain reclining chairs. For three hours the passage is through a 
desolate and forbidding country; then the mountains, offshoots 
of the Eastern Cordillera, show their crests, always fantastic in 
shape, and toned by distance into amethyst and purple. They 
present every variety of outline : conical, jagged, and even rec- 
tangular, the most conspicuous example of this last, the mesa, or 
table-topped hill, being opposite the town of Lampazos, about 
seventy-five miles from Laredo. This mesa has perpendicular 
walls, a thousand feet high, it is said, and a surface of nearly a 



BY RAIL TO NORTHERN MEXICO. 561 

thousand acres. To the top the only access is by a narrow, zig- 
zag path, which only a man, or a donkey, can ascend. And if a 
man is very much of a donkey, he cannot get up at all. Here, 
strange to say, is a community of poor people, with a church 
and a school, and the soil is fertile, and produces great crops of 
corn for its owner, Sefior Milmo, the rich banker of Monterey. 
Sefior Milmo, by the way, is a living witness to the fact that for- 
tunes have been made by foreigners in Mexico ; for he, though 
Irish by birth, married the daughter of a rich hacendado, and so 
acquired his money and his mesa. Richly has he been repaid 
for whatever sacrifice he may have made in leaving the stately 
halls of the Emerald Isle, — with such others of his countrymen 
as occasionally condescend to honor America with their pres- 
ence, — as not only has he gained to himself rich store of gold 
and pesos, lands and cattle, but even his name has undergone a 
transformation. For whereas in his native land he was known 
only as plain Pat Mullins, he now rolls under his tongue as 
a sweet morsel the sonorous sobriquet of Sefior Don Patricio 
Milmo ! 

Now, why does not Mexico entice thither more of the sons 
of Erin? What have we of the United States to offer in lieu 
of such distinction as this? Nothing, alas! We can, indeed, 
bestow upon them the paltry honors and emoluments of office ; 
but what avails this to the Celt, whose noble nature spurns all 
lucre as dross? Let our rulers look to this. Let them at once 
enact that every immigrant be addressed as a " Don " ; else New 
York may lose many influential citizens, and Castle Garden be- 
come a howling wilderness ! 

At the station of Palo Blanco we are in the midst of a region 
of upland, and many small towns are passed on the mesquit- 
covered plains, the principal of which are Salado, Lampazos, 
and Villaldama; but they are not on the railroad, but nestle 
far away at the foot of a hill, or in a plain where a darker green 
indicates cultivation and gardens. Mines reputed wealthy in 
galena and silver — or in traditions of them — give a certain 
importance to some towns, and Bustamente, sixty miles from 
Monterey, is celebrated for the products of its looms. There 

36 



562 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

is here a colony of Indians, descended from the Tlascalans 
who fought by the side of Cortes, and whose ancestors were 
sent here to form a nucleus of civilization in the centre of the 
barbarous tribes who then overran the " Kingdom of Nuevo 
Leon." 

At seven o'clock, and sunset, we entered a gap in the mountain 
wall which separates the valley of Monterey from the wretched 
country below, and were in an entirely different region. Hacks 
were in waiting to convey us to the city, which is a mile distant 
from the station, and to which also a fine tramway leads. 

Perhaps that enterprising American who built the tramway 
from the railroad station to and through the city, whose ex- 
penses are about a hundred dollars a day, and who is con- 
stantly experiencing annoyances from the civil authorities, — 
being obliged, among other things, to carry a policeman on 
every car, who promptly returns every man ejected for non- 
payment of fare, — rejoices exceedingly that his lines have been 
cast in such a pleasant place. It is presumed that he expects 
to recover a fair interest on his investment; and perhaps he 
will, if the powers that be cannot find a pretext for confiscating 
the line, and turning it over to some deserving native, — it being 
well known to the Mexican that the American has great con- 
structive skill, but no executive ability. Everybody rode at 
first, from the novelty of the thing, but everybody did not pay ; 
and doubtless the proprietor of the line realized the difference 
between his position and that of the owners of Northern street- 
railways, whose patrons pay a six-cent fare for a five-cent ride. 
But the Mexicans are older, as a people, than the dwellers of 
the North, and perhaps more competent than they to deal with 
grasping monopolies. 

Monterey lies on a fertile plateau enclosed by spurs from the 
Sierra Madre Mountains, at an altitude above the sea of sixteen 
hundred feet, and at a distance, in a direct line, from Mexico 
City of about four hundred and fifty miles. The scenery about 
Monterey is attractive, especially noteworthy objects being the 
mountain peaks. One of these, to the east, is known as La 
Silla, or Saddle Mountain, from a hollow in its ridge giving 



BY RAIL TO NORTHERN MEXICO. 



563 



it the 
Mitra, 



appearance of a Mexican saddle, and the other as La 
to the west, which reminds one of a bishop's mitre. 

To one to whom the Hispano- 
Mexican architecture is a novelty, 
the city must seem quite attractive, 
with its enclosed courts blossom- 
ing with flowers; but types of its 
buildings may be found in sev- 
eral of the earlier chapters of this 
volume. 

The city was founded in 1590, 
although upon the site of a set- 




\ \ - V, 

THE PLAZA AND LA MITRA. 



tlement previously made, and is the oldest and most impor- 
tant of Northern Mexico. The climate is equable and salubri- 



564 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

ous, and in the gardens and orchards are found fruits of the 
South, as well as of the North. Like Chihuahua, it carries on 
its commerce chiefly with the United States, and since the com- 
pletion of the railroad this has grown rapidly ; the population 
has nearly doubled in the past decade, and now numbers forty- 
two thousand. The buildings of note are the hospital, college, 
convent, city hall, and bishop's palace. This last-named build- 
ing, on a hill to the west of the city, is a prominent landmark, 
not only in the suburban scenery, but in the history of modern 
Mexico. In September, 1846, the American army of the North 
had advanced as far into Mexico as Monterey, the capital of 
New Leon, and the key to all the northern provinces. In the 
city was the Mexican general, Ampudia, with 10,000 men, and 
this force the Americans, under Taylor, though only 6,500 
strong, assaulted in their stronghold. They commenced the 
attack on the 21st of September, and after fighting desperately 
from street to street, assailed from house-tops and terraces by 
the populace, as well as by the regular soldiery, they penetrated 
to the central plaza. The next day, the strong position of the 
bishop's palace was carried by storm, and the entire force of 
Ampudia captured. 

El Monte Rey, the King's Mountain, was for many years, in 
early times, merely a frontier post of the advancing Spanish 
civilization. Its location, in a fertile valley supplied with large 
springs, which pour forth a great volume of water, was most 
advantageous for trade with the Indians. The streams from 
these springs flow through half the town, and about their banks 
are clustered the mud and cane houses of the lower classes. In 
a stroll, one morning, I encountered a full company of soldiers 
industriously washing their clothing, and the while it was dry- 
ing bathing their persons in the swift waters. A thing that will 
strike a stranger as anomalous in Mexico is, that though every 
shop in every city keeps and sells vast quantities of soap, and 
though everybody in the neighborhood of a stream is con- 
stantly washing, both himself and his garments, yet every per- 
son of the lower order is as dirty as though just dipped in a 
city sewer. As this fact has come under my observation through 



BY RAIL TO NORTHERN MEXICO. 565 

thousands of miles of travel, I have at last come to the conclu- 
sion that personal ablution in Mexico is done by proxy; that 
is, that certain ones are hired to exhibit at the lavatories, and 
thus save the credit of the more respectable of the community. 

A great effort has been made, of late, to bring Monterey for- 
ward as a health resort, and pamphlets by the thousand, the work 
of some interested, though injudicious author, have been circu- 
lated, praising the city to the skies. There is certainly much 
here to recommend the place to the tourist. Its buildings are 
old and quaint, its central plaza delightful, its altitude above the 
sea sufficient to insure a pure and healthful climate, and it has, 
a few miles away, some very remarkable mineral springs. But 
to call Monterey an " Invalid's Paradise " is going a little too 
far. Because there are no American hotels of note, the food is 
vilely cooked, and the streets, over which said invalid must 
be jolted, and the walks, are broken and full of holes. There 
are no attractions in the suburbs to which an invalid would 
take pleasure in walking, for the city is completely begirdled 
by the huts of the lower classes, whose squalor and misery are 
not exceeded in any other city of Mexico. 

Six miles distant from the city, and a mile from a station on 
the " National " road of the same name, are the hot springs of 
Topo Chico. There are two of them, — one very hot (208 
Fahrenheit), and the other an arsenic spring, just tepid. As 
I have previously remarked, one needs to forecast events at 
least five years, in writing of Mexico in 1883; and it may 
seem uncharitable to mention that the accommodations for 
the suffering invalid, who has been lured by the seductive pam- 
phlets to these waters of rejuvenescence, gushing out of the 
" Paradise " aforementioned, are utterly wretched. Yet that 
is the cold fact; and, until the great hotel goes up, which is 
promised manana, and until the present horrible hack, without 
springs and with the hardest of boards for seats, is replaced 
by a luxurious carriage, I would advise a seeking of the more 
accessible thermal waters of the United States. With good ho- 
tels, one at the springs and another in the city, Monterey may 
some time claim as manv visitors as its Californian namesake. 



566 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

In advance of the railway, and on its completion, there had 
been a great influx of Americans into Monterey, and the streets 
were tolerably full of disappointed fortune-seekers. They came 
here as to a new country, little realizing, until too late, that this 
very city was old when our republic was born, and that the 
Mexican, both Spanish and Creole, possessed an instinct for 
trade and a love for lucre as keen as the shrewdest Yankee in 
our country. Beyond establishing a few cheap bar-rooms, they 
had not accomplished much in the matter of business, and even 
though these charged a real for a glass of beer or lemonade, 
they did not seem to be making money. 

Race prejudice is stronger here than in the interior, for the 
Border States have suffered more ; and if any one imagines that 
the Mexican is disposed to allow the American to make a dol- 
lar, except by superior skill, he misunderstands the prevalent 
feeling. He is quite willing el Americano shall spend his own 
money in the building of railroads, tramways, and hotels, but he 
will resist strenuously any attempt to capture Mexican trade. 

At the time of my residence in Monterey, the papers con- 
tained many bitter articles against " the North American inva- 
sion,"^ — el invasion Norte Americano, — some indeed quite able. 
The Revista, the leading journal, advocated government aid in 
favor of immigrants of the Latin race, and even of the Mongo- 
lian, as opposed to the Saxon, with strong arguments in favor 
of the first. The great Saxon wave that is now sweeping over 
Mexico is of course irresistible, and the Mexican's recognition 
of it, and of his own impotency in arresting it, tends to enrage 
and exasperate. But though it will be impossible to stay the 
progress of that southward-sweeping deluge, which threatens to 
obliterate race distinctions and even the autonomy of Mexico, 
yet it is most absurd for any American to go there thinking 
to wrest a living from the soil. In the plateau it is mainly 
sterile ; in the tierra caliente, no unacclimatized immigrant can 
long survive the fatal climate, and in every portion there are In- 
dians by the thousand ready to labor for less wages per week 
than would purchase the meals of an American for a day. 

During the week of my stay in Monterey, four murders were 



BY RAIL TO NORTHERN MEXICO. 



567 



brought to popular notice, but all committed, so far as we could 
learn, by aliens from over the Border. One of these was so 
brutal as to excite comment, even amongst the Mexicans. Two 
men, named Mudd and Leggett, waylaid and shot a Swedish rail- 
way contractor named Hickling, as he was driving through a 
lonely canon with his buggy laden with silver to pay off his men. 




THE CATHEDRAL. 

They were captured by Mexican police, who would doubtless 
have offered no opposition if the threats of lynching, freely 
made by the employees of the road, had been carried out. 

By the Mexican law, no capital punishment could be inflicted ; 
but the alcalde of the village near which the murder was com- 
mitted thought he could so arrange matters that the chief 
actors in this bloody drama should be shot, and an accomplice 



568 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

sent to the fortress at Vera Cruz. This, I believe, was done, 
though it was after I left. They have a way in Mexico of 
inflicting the extreme penalty, without having the law on the 
statute-books, which is quite simple and effective. The judge 
remands a prisoner guilty of murder in the first degree to another 
court, or orders him transferred from one jail to another. It so 
falls out that the misguided wretch sees, or is led to believe that 
he sees, a way to escape, and attempts to run. Now no true 
Mexican would seek to establish a precedent so contrary to all 
the traditions of the country as to indulge in rapid locomotion, 
except in a case of life and death, and where his own was the 
life at stake. Thus it happens that the soldiers save their 
dignity, and their prisoner at the same time, by a volley from 
muskets ready charged in anticipation. 

Mexican justice was not likely to prove tardy in this case, as 
the alcalde was even then smarting under an indignity offered to 
his own town. But a few days previously a telegraph operator 
had shot a Mexican " accidentally." Being a man of parts, and 
perhaps having already had a taste of Mexican law, he at once 
" lit out " in that expeditious manner designated in the South- 
west as " between two days." The authorities immediately 
wired those below in Monterey to stop the culprit as he passed 
through ; but the operator there, being an American, thought 
best not to deliver the message until his confrere was well over 
the Border. Then, being a prudent man, he also made hurried 
preparations to depart from a land where the atmosphere was 
not favorable to the transmission of electric currents. But the 
jefe politico, with an alacrity truly wonderful in one of his race, 
promptly clapped the delinquent into the calaboose, — el calabozo. 
It being represented to him, however, that the business of the 
line, as well as that of the municipality, would suffer, unless he 
were released, he was forthwith mulcted to the tune of twenty- 
five dollars and set at liberty ; and the first train northward car- 
ried him likewise across the Rio Grande. 

The third man concerned in the murder of the Swede escaped, 
and it was rumored, and afterwards confirmed, that he was hiding 
in the very house in which I was stopping. Our landlady was 



BY RAIL TO NORTHERN MEXICO. 



569 



an exceedingly able woman, who had " roughed it " along the 
line for a number of years, and she declared that she knew 
Charley H. as well as she wanted to, and while she had little 
doubt as to his complicity in the matter, she was n't " going 
to see him given up to any Greaser ; but if a white man 




MEXICAN BIT, BRIDLE, AND SPURS. 



wanted him, that was a different thing." One evening, at dusk, 
a horseman rode quietly up to our hotel door and inquired 
for the landlady; but before she had time to appear, one of 
the loungers about whispered something in his ear that sent 
him ambling rapidly down the street. It was no other than 



570 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

the mysterious third party, whom the police — a squad at that 
time being in our very court — were anxiously looking for; 
but doubtless before another sun had set Texas had claimed 
another recreant citizen. 

Many of the frontier settlements of Mexico are yet in the 
condition of that Western colony which hung a tinker for an 
offence of the blacksmith, — because there were two tinkers in 
town and but one son of Vulcan. Policy plays a most im- 
portant part in the decisions of justice ; and hence it is that 
the Mexican army is full of red-handed murderers, who have 
only escaped being shot by shouldering muskets and becoming 
themselves defenders of the laws. 

In an enumeration of the attractions of Monterey I should not 
forget the Plaza of Zaragoza, with its fountain and flowers, with 
the municipal palace on one side, and the cathedral on the other. 
In the palace are still shown three of the muskets with which 
Maximilian was shot, and other curiosities. The market building, 
the Parian, towers above just such a mat-covered pavement as is 
described in my chapter on the markets of Mexico, with filthy 
women and miserable men crouched beneath frail tula shelters, 
and guarding contemptible collections of fruit and vegetables. 
With an escort, ladies might visit the bishop's palace, now gone 
to decay and used as military quarters, the Campo Santo, or 
cemetery, and the " house in the tree," where a small structure 
is perched in the branches of a giant ceiba. 

The bull-ring of Monterey is merely an enclosure of poles, so 
frail that an animal of spirit could demolish it in a single furi- 
ous charge ; not an amphitheatre such as we find in the federal 
district. Neither are there here any genuine Andalusian bull- 
fighters, imported from Spain, as in the capital, who rarely fail to 
drive the rapier straight to the spinal marrow ; nor was my blood 
stirred by the rabble in Monterey as it was at the first bull-fight 
I saw in Mexico, under the shadow of the hill of Chapultepec. 
As for another Mexican institution, the cock-pit, it is nothing 
more than a circular shed with thatched and pointed roof. 

South from Monterey a diligence formerly ran to the city of 
Mexico ; but the constantly advancing railroad has pushed its 



BY RAIL TO NORTHERN MEXICO. 



573 



terminal stations nearer and nearer together, until it now merely 
covers the distance as yet untraversed by the iron horse. In 
company with the General Superintendent of the " National," I 
went over the road to the end of the rails, where horses and an 
ambulance were in waiting to convey him and his escort south 
to San Luis Potosi. A son of the lamented General Ord, a dash- 
ing young horseman, accompanied him as compaiiero, whom I 
had met two years previously with his father in Mexico City. 




COCK-PIT, MONTEREY. 

The gallant old soldier was as well known on the Border as the 
Mexican General, Trevifio, who married his daughter, and whose 
aspirations for the presidency, as well as his capitulation to his 
opponent, Diaz, are well known. We had an excellent dinner 
in a construction car, and then, after gathering the details of the 
recent murder of his subordinate, the Swedish contractor, Super- 
intendent Gardner gave orders to march, and his little cavalcade 
tightened their saddle-girths, buckled on rifle and revolver, and 
were soon hidden from my sight in a cloud of dust. 



574 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

The next place of importance south of Monterey is Saltillo, 
capital of the State of Coahuila, about sixty-five miles distant, 
a city of note, containing seventeen thousand inhabitants, with 
cotton factories and various native industries. The valley in 
which it is situated is considered fertile. The town lies on the 
slope of a hill ; its streets are well paved ; some of its buildings, 
as the church and bull-ring, are worthy of notice, and its ala- 
meda so fine as to attract the attention of every visitor. About 
seven miles beyond is the hamlet of Buenavista, famous for the 
battle fought there, on the 23d of February, 1847, between the 
forces of General Taylor and Santa Anna. The result of that bat- 
tle was largely due to the almost impregnable position selected 
by Taylor in the pass of Angostura, where Santa Anna could 
not use his artillery or cavalry, nor derive much benefit from the 
great numerical superiority of his infantry. At all events, the 
five thousand Americans sent ten thousand Mexicans flying 
southward, so thoroughly whipped that the whole northern prov- 
ince remained in their undisputed possession. Agua Nueva, 
the village in which the American army was encamped at the 
approach of Santa Anna, lies at the upper end of a beautiful 
vale, called La Encantada, — the Enchanted Valley. Not 
finding this an advantageous position, Taylor fell back to 
Angostura, — the Narrow Pass, — where the valley, some six 
miles wide below, narrows to less than two. 

The next great city south is San Luis Potosi, at a distance of 
385 kilometres, say 275 miles, from Monterey. The intervening 
country is remarkably dry and sterile, and the plains, as described 
by a recent traveller, " dusty, monotonous, covered with cacti, 
aloes, and yucca, — yucca, aloes, and cacti," — almost exclu- 
sively given up to vast haciendas with infrequent towns and 
ranchos. It is in the main a wretched and thinly populated 
region, so dry that wells and water-tanks are objects of interest, 
even of solicitude, and give names to various hamlets, as Agua 
Nueva and Tanque la Vaca. No more interesting object will 
be seen than the mountain of Catorce, with its famous mining 
town, about which are clustered traditions of bonanzas such as 
few silver regions can lay claim to. 



BY RAIL TO NORTHERN MEXICO. 575 

San Luis will interest a traveller coming from the North as a 
thoroughly representative metropolis, in streets and architecture, 
of Southern Mexico. It contains numerous churches, which 
possess excellent paintings, a fine cathedral, and an attractive 
alameda. The famous silver mines of Potosi, now fallen in and 
neglected, in a cerro within sight of the city, once produced 
enormously, and from one of them, it is said, was obtained the 
largest piece of solid gold ever found in America. It was sent 
to the king of Spain, who in return gave a large clock, which 
may be seen in the cathedral to-day. The city has a population 
of forty-five thousand, and is destined to be an important railway 
centre, as not only does the National, coming down from the 
north, connect it with Monterey and the United States, and, 
passing through, extend its trade to Mexico City, but a branch 
of the Central, leaving the trunk line at Leon, runs through to 
Tampico, 300 miles distant, on the Gulf of Mexico. 

Passing beyond the southern border of the State of San Luis, 
we enter the great and famous hacienda of Jaral, which was — 
perhaps is now — the largest in Mexico. Half a century ago, 
its proprietor, the Marquis of Jaral, was reputed the largest land- 
owner in the world, owning over three hundred thousand head 
of live stock, and slaughtering annually sixty thousand sheep 
and goats. His hospitality was unbounded, but his oppression 
of the peons of his estate bore heavily upon them ; he even 
razed the houses of a village, and scattered the inhabitants, to 
prevent them from getting a town charter, which would give 
them control of the land. 

Next south is the town of San Felipe, 6,900 feet above the 
sea, and next Dolores Hidalgo, chiefly remarkable as the parish 
of the Mexican patriot, Padre Hidalgo, where the first note of 
liberty was sounded, in September, 18 10. Directly south, sit- 
uated in the midst of a fertile and beautiful champaign, is the 
flourishing city of Celaya, containing thirty thousand inhabit- 
ants. Here the two great railroads meet and cross ; the Central 
coming up from Queretaro and Mexico, and the National from 
Acambaro and the capital. By the former it is 180 miles to 
Mexico City, passing through Queretaro, ancient Tula, and the 



576 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

northern entrance into the valley ; and by the latter 200 miles, 
through the large and quaint Indian cities of Acambaro and 
Maravatio, and the beautiful valley of Toluca. 

From Saltillo, on the 24th of every month, a conducta, or sil- 
ver train, starts south for the mines of Zacatecas, in charge of a 
noted conductor, who has safely transported millions of silver 
over this route. He has a band of excellent mules ; his men 
are trusty and armed to the teeth, and his reputation is such that 
the ladrones, or robbers, always give him a wide berth. Being a 
most companionable and delightful man, he sometimes allows a 
traveller to join his caravan, and treats him like a prince. The 
march is leisurely made, the noonday halt is long, abundant time 
is allowed for hunting, and the fortunate guest is entertained with 
song and dancing at every hacienda. Notwithstanding that the 
completion of the railroad will obviate the necessity for horse or 
diligence, I think that, if again called upon to make the south- 
ward journey into Mexico, I shall seek out this courteous cabal- 
lero and attach myself to his conducta. 



XXVIII. 

ALONG THE RIO GRANDE VALLEY. 

WE made the journey down from Monterey to Laredo in 
a day so hot that the ironwork of the cars, and even of 
the reclining chairs, was hardly bearable to the touch. At eight 
o'clock of the morning succeeding I boarded a pay-car of the 
Pecos and Rio Grande Railroad, and ran north some thirty 
miles, to visit the coal-fields which that line had but recently 
entered. We reached the principal mine, San Tomas, at ten, 
and on the high bank of the Rio Grande, which is here about 
a gunshot across, found an excellent dump and veins of coal, 
alternating with seams of slate, two and three feet in thick- 
ness. The coal is semi-bituminous, burns freely, is easily mined, 
and the capacity of the company is not equal to the demand. 
The main drive at San Tomas is about a thousand feet, with an 
air-shaft five hundred feet from the entrance. Some twenty 
miles beyond is another deposit, and back along the line are 
several experimental shafts searching for seams of sufficient 
width — five feet — for profitable working. The great want of 
Mexico is coal, with which to supply the locomotives of the 
great international roads ; and this discovery of veins on the Rio 
Grande, right at the Mexican portal, is likely to prove of great 
value and convenience. 

Taking a " sleeper " on the " International and Great Northern 
Road," I departed from Laredo that night, and awoke next morn- 
ing at San Antonio, which place I had left ten days previously, 
after a most delightful night of repose. If any place in the 
Southwest could tempt me to depart from my subject awhile and 
describe other sections than those pertaining to Mexico, it would 
be San Antonio, with its springs and parks, old mission build- 

37 



578 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

ing, and most perfect climate. But if we linger too long in Bor- 
der land we shall not penetrate the region beyond. A day of 
delight I spent in San Antonio, and then, as I had returned this 
distance northward merely to make connection with another 
portion of Old Mexico, I took train westward for Eagle Pass 
and Piedras Negras. 

Two vast systems, the Gould, or " Missouri Pacific," coming 
down from Saint Louis, and the Huntington-Pierce combination, 
the connecting link in the lengthy chain between San Francisco 
and New Orleans, meet here and cross. The " Sunset Route " 
— as this eastern division of the southern transcontinental line 
is called — owes its existence and success to the indomitable 
pluck, faith, and energy of Col. T. W. Pierce, of Massachu- 
setts, who long ago, when railroads were almost unknown in 
Texas, projected the " Galveston, Harrisburg, and San Antonio " 
road, from the Gulf of Mexico to the great plains, stretching 
away, vast and unknown, in the direction of the Western 
Ocean. Mile by mile, almost foot by foot, struggling against 
difficulties almost insuperable, this road was steadily pushed 
forward, until it at last reached San Antonio, and its engineers 
were received with ovations by the delighted inhabitants. 
Thence it sped westward into the region of sunset, taking its 
course through a fertile belt of counties; and perhaps might 
not have stopped this side of the Pacific itself, had not expe- 
diency suggested a halt. Eastward, feeling its way cautiously 
at first, but later progressing by impetuous leap's, another 
road was aiming to cross the vast Texan prairies. Another 
man, world-renowned for sagacity and bold emprise, C. P. 
Huntington, the Railroad King of California, had his eye upon 
this same territory. The result was a compromise, and the 
" Southern Pacific " completed the connections which made the 
Crescent City a neighbor to the Golden Gate. This gigantic 
enterprise, by which the East and West were united by a per- 
ennial route with a summer climate, was only perfected, and the 
last spike driven, four months previous to my journey over it. 
Yet here I was, rolling smoothly along, without jolt or jar, 
over a road perfect in every appointment, and in a train con- 



ALONG THE RIO GRANDE VALLEY. 



579 



taining sleepers and palace cars, and with every convenience 
for travellers. And in this region, formerly so famous for the 



^M- 45 




THE HOTEL PORTAL. 



exploits of the Border ruffian, all my changes, by a strange 
chance, were made at midnight, in quiet and perfect security. 
It was twelve o'clock when we reached Spofford Junction, 



580 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

where I left the Sunset Route and took its Mexican spur, the 
" International," for Eagle Pass and Mexico. The train I left 
sped westward, after exchanging news with the " California Ex- 
press " going eastward. How strange it seemed, this meeting in 
the night, in the centre of an arid plain, of messengers respect- 
ively from the Mississippi and the Pacific ! The place of meet- 
ing, named after the attorney of the road, R. S. Spofford, Esq., 
consisted, at the time of my arrival, of a few tents and shanties, 
while the land about, seen by moonlight, seemed sterile. For 
all that, it is destined to be an important station, when direct 
connections are made with the North. 

In the gray dawn of a cool morning I walked through the 
straggling suburbs of Eagle Pass and sought a hotel. No one 
was stirring, but the hotel door was wide open, so I marched 
into the first vacant room, lay down on the bed, and pieced out 
my broken night's rest with a nap. After a breakfast of good 
quality, I strolled about the town, and then, taking my "grip- 
sack" and revolver, went over the Rio Grande into Mexico. 
Eagle Pass possesses, in respect to local attractions, few advan- 
tages over Laredo, its rival down the river. Although the 
natural outlet of Mexican trade, lying at the entrance into 
the most fertile region of the Mexican Border, it will not 
progress with the rapidity of the southern town, but ten years 
hence will probably be a more prosperous city. My reasons 
for predicting this will appear, as we go over the length of 
railroad already built into Mexico. 

In the language of the local paper, " The Maverick," which 
was started only the week before my arrival, Eagle Pass has 
had no " great big boom" ; but since the advent of the railroad 
within her precincts, there has been a steady, substantial im- 
provement and growth. The latest and surest indications of an 
advanced state of civilization, ice factories and telephones, may 
be found here, and at least one enterprising merchant has run 
one of the latter across the Border, as witness the following 
from the paper previously mentioned : " Jim Riddle has placed 
his Eagle Pass and Piedras Negras stores in connection by a 
telephone. We have heard of men who were ' penny-wise and 



ALONG THE RIO GRANDE VALLEY. 58 1 

pound-foolish,' but Jim ain't that kind of a hair-pin." If we 
needed further assurance that a future was in store for this enter- 
prising town, we may surely find it in an item to the effect that 
" Hop Lee, Esq., a Celestian of great experience in the ' washee- 
washee ' line," had opened a laundry opposite the post-office. 

No town on the Border is going to retrograde with a live 
paper like " The Maverick " to guard its interests ; and we 
heartily join in the invitation extended by the editor to a con- 
temporary, to " shake " on his expressions of good will. 

I crossed the Rio Grande over a temporary or " low-water " 
bridge, which had been thrown over in six weeks; the perma- 
nent one — if one can be permanent, in that terrible stream of 
floods and surprises — was then building, with an iron super- 
structure, and with six massive piers of cut granite founded on 
the bed-rock of the river. The town on the Mexican side of the 
river is Piedras Negras, attractive despite its filth and the squalor 
of many of its inhabitants. It is of stone and adobe, and lies about 
a mile away from the railroad station, which was then surrounded 
with tents, and houses in process of construction. Presenting 
my credentials, I was permitted to pass to the end of the track, 
in a box-car half filled with railroad ties, which every jolt of 
the train set sliding about in a most alarming manner. 

Through the region having an outlet at Eagle Pass, formerly 
ran the great highway from Durango and Chihuahua and the 
rich Laguna country, northward, to San Antonio and St. Louis. 
The surface is nearly level, the soil fairly fertile, the crops of 
corn quite excellent, and the fields large, only needing irriga- 
tion to make them highly productive. Cultivation is not now 
extensive, as all available labor is employed on the railroad. 

An immense trade was formerly conducted over this route by 
means of caravans, or trains, which also ran down to Chihuahua 
from St. Louis by way of Santa Fe and El Paso, a distance of over 
fifteen hundred miles ; but later on, from Presidio del Norte 
and San Antonio. All this is changed since the advent of the 
railroad ; but a picture of the trains in those old caravan 
days, by Mr. Bartlett, the United States Boundary Commis- 
sioner, may not come amiss. " If a merchant here desires to 



582 



TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 



make his purchases himself in New York, or our other great 
markets, he must leave here in the fall, when it will require 
forty to fifty days to reach his destination by the way of New 
Orleans. His goods must then be purchased and shipped to 
Indianola, on the Gulf of Mexico, to be sent to San Antonio ; 
or to St. Louis, and thence by water to Independence. Now 
comes the most difficult part of the transportation : wagons, 
mules, harness, and the various trappings, must be purchased, 
and teamsters procured, — all of which requires much time and 




MEXICAN CART. 



a large outlay. The large Missouri wagons, which carry from 
5,000 to 5,500 pounds each, cost, all equipped, from $1,200 to 
$1,300 each, and twenty of these, which is not a large train, 
$26,000. Then each team must have its teamster, at $25 per 
month, and a wagon-master, or director of the train, at $100. 
Besides the ten mules to each team, fifteen or twenty extra are 
required, as on their long journeys accidents cannot be avoided. 
Men to herd and take care of the animals must also be provided, 
and, finally, provisions for the journey. This will give an idea of 
the expense of fitting out a caravan, or train ; and if the merchant 
gets back with his goods in ten months from the time he left, 
without encounters from hostile Indians, or the loss of any of 



ALONG THE RIO GRANDE VALLEY. 583 

his wagons or their contents, in fording streams and otherwise, 
he may consider himself fortunate." 

This was written in 1852; thirty years later, the railroad 
brought with it a change, and American goods now flood the 
market of Chihuahua at a slight advance over prices prevailing 
in the North. 

Relics of that age of wooden wheels, when carts without a 
particle of iron in their composition were solely used by the 
native Mexicans, yet survive. All along the Border, as well as 
in the interior of Mexico, we meet with these carretas, with 
wheels hewn from a single block of wood, and yoked to the 
patient bulls or oxen by a rigid cross-bar lashed to their horns. 

My companions in the box-car were about equally natives 
of Texas and Mexico, whose conversation was chiefly of bull- 
fights and cock-pits. Piedras Negras, they declared, was full of 
thieves and murderers, — all Mexicans according to the Texans, 
but all Texans according to the Mexicans. 

From the foreman of the gang I obtained some valuable infor- 
mation regarding the difficulties attending railway construction 
on the Border, and the jealousy with which the Mexican defends 
his prerogative. It was only the week before, he said, that his 
hand-car ran down a " Greaser " on horseback, by which half 
his men were seriously injured, and the horse killed. Unfor- 
tunately, he said, the Greaser was uninjured, and lay in wait 
for an opportunity for revenge, and shot at him as he was wiring 
a telegraph pole. A man up a telegraph pole would offer, pre- 
sumably, a fair mark; yet the Mexican missed him, and the 
railroad man, descending hurriedly, brought him to terms, after 
a short, though exciting chase. 

During one of our frequent breakings-up a jug of molasses 
was smashed, which proved a double disappointment, as the 
men thereby lost their sweetening, and we lost our seats on 
the floor. At about four o'clock in the afternoon we reached 
the end of track, having passed two towns of considerable size, 
though .built of adobe and of the meanest sort, and through 
fifty miles of a country already attracting the attention of Texan 
rancheros. We met one of these worthies, a stalwart young 



5^4 



TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 



American, with a carbine slung to his saddle and a six-shooter 
belted about his waist, guarding a large flock of sheep. 

This " International " road, the Mexican offshoot of the " Sun- 
set" system, pursues a southwesterly course toward the capital 
of Durango, where it will connect with the Central Railroad. 
If continued on from Durango, it will end eventually at the 
Pacific, at some point, depending upon a practicable pass 
through the Sierra Madres and a sheltered harbor with navi- 




INTERNATIONAL BRIDGE. 
(Over the Rio Grande.) 

gable channel. It will thus form a great and much-needed 
transcontinental line between the Eastern United States and 
the Pacific Ocean ; and, as it is being built without subsidy, it 
can choose its own route, and so seek out the territory richest 
in mining and agriculture. It enters first the great State of 
Coahuila, which contains two cities, eleven towns, and numerous 
haciendas and ranchos. The cities of Parras and Monclova are 
flourishing, productive centres, while the Sabinas valley con- 
tains bodies of extremely fertile land, and the Laguna country 
the only lakes of any extent north of Chapala and the valley of 
Mexico. A spur southward from Monclova can connect with 



ALONG THE RIO GRANDE VALLEY. 585 

the " National " system at Saltillo, whence is a straight course 
to San Luis Potosi and Mexico City. 

This system, then, when perfected, will control a rich agricul- 
tural region, and will draw to itself, by branches and indepen- 
dent lines, the products of the valuable mines of the sierras. 
Mining operations in Coahuila are not now active, but were for- 
merly, in districts now deserted, and which may revive with the 
coming of the railroad. Iron, in a pure state and in great 
masses, is found in the Sierra del Valle, and at other points, 
and copper, lead, amianthus, nitre, and sulphur, in various dis- 
tricts. A great furor was created, a few years ago, about the 
mineral deposits of the Sierra Mojada, which lie in a desert 
country, one hundred miles distant from the nearest centre of 
population. In the Government Report (Mexican) one hun- 
dred and forty mines are enumerated, showing nearly every 
mineral found in Mexico. It is supposed that this region will 
be profitably opened again when entered by the railroad, and 
hidden mines brought to light that the wild nature of the coun- 
try has hitherto kept secret. 

At the construction camp, where I was given a bunk by the 
physician in charge, and dined with the well-known contractors, 
the Monroe Brothers of California, I had an excellent opportu- 
nity of witnessing the wonderful operation of track-laying. At 
half-past six next morning, the advance engine blew its whistle 
for all hands to report for duty, and started for the front, pushing 
ahead of it a long line of platform cars laden with ties and rails. 
Each car contained thirty rails, fifteen on a side, sufficient for 
four hundred and fifty feet of track. A mule pulled it to the 
end of the rails laid the day preceding, when four men, armed 
with powerful tongs, seized a rail, two on each side, and ran it 
out, before the car had well come to a halt. " Steady," says 
the foreman ; " drop," and it falls with a clang on the sleepers, 
while the other side does the same ; the old mule draws the car 
ahead, and the process is repeated. Sharp after them come the 
spikers, two sinewy negroes in advance, who drive so rapidly 
that their strokes keep up a running clatter, and who do all the 
heavy work, the Mexicans not being up to it. Four gangs then 



586 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

follow behind the iron-layers on each side of the track, each one 
taking every fourth spike ; meanwhile men are screwing up the 
bolts and nuts, and boys are dropping and gathering up the 
spikes ; and before one has ceased to wonder at the rapidity at 
which the work goes on, the load is laid, and another is brought 
up ; the procession constantly moves, leaving behind it an iron 
trail which progresses at the rate of over a mile a day. 

At ten o'clock the telegraph men came along with a hand-car, 
on which was a revolving creel of wire, which was run out as 
they went along. A man took a loop of wire, climbed a pole, — 
not one was in sight at daybreak, — and attached it, while two 
companions tightened it on the stretch ahead. Connection was 
made with our car by a copper wire, and we were in correspond- 
ence with all the world, in a country which had been surveyed 
less than ninety days, in a valley in which not a tie spanned the 
road-bed ten days previously, and at a point at which the rails 
supporting our car were only dropped the day before ! 

Even so progresses the " North American invasion," from four 
several points at once, and constantly moving its advance guard 
a mile a day nearer the Mexican capital. Well may it cause the 
reflecting Mexican to tremble, and the unthinking to wonder ! 
Here, as at Monterey, the " Greaser " makes his feeble protest 
against the inevitable advance ; he cannot block the wheels of 
the engine, but he can annoy the engineer ; so he rides his horse 
over the track, heedless of warning whistle, and drives his cattle 
in front of the locomotive. Down in the interior of the republic 
one of these conceited rancheros tried to stop an engine by lasso- 
ing the smoke-stack ; as the lariat was a tough one, and firmly 
attached to the saddle, it may not be necessary to add that he 
did not repeat that experiment, — at least not in Mexico. 

From the coming of the steam-horse, indeed, a new industry 
has sprung. Formerly, the scurvy and hide-bound cattle of this 
region were considered dear at ten dollars a head ; now, they 
are scarce at fifty. And why? Because the Mexican has passed 
a law that every animal killed on the road shall be paid for to the 
tune of sixty dollars ! And now these guileless " Greasers " are 
flocking to the railroad with their flocks and herds. Goats and. 



ALONG THE RIO GRANDE VALLEY. 587 

sheep, emaciated cows and bulls, are as thick along the track 
as tenpins in an alley; no sooner is one knocked over than its 
place is taken by another, urged up the bank by its exultant 
owner. 

The engine emits a constant whistle of alarm, while the engi- 
neer pours out a stream of blasphemy that would terrify any but 
a Mexican, to whom profanity is as mother's milk. The very 
first telegram that came over the wire to our car was to warn the 
road-master that the captain of police was in waiting for him up 
the road, as an old ten-dollar bull had been killed the day before, 
and the grief of its owner was great. At the same time, a Mex- 
ican was killed, — probably as he was pushing the bull on to the 
track; and as the engineer had " skipped the Border," the only 
thing clear to the officials now was to calaboose the road-master. 
The gentleman whose presence was so much desired by them 
was my companion back to the river ; and he went very cheer- 
fully, with the prospect of that calaboose in the distance. But 
he was disposed to take a somewhat sinister view of the " Mexi- 
can movement," I fear, from some remarks he casually let drop 
on the way. 

" Now," said he, calling my attention to the letters painted on 
every car, — F. C. I. M., — " what do you suppose those stand 
for? " 

" Why, that, I presume, is an abbreviation for the name of the 
company, in Spanish, — Ferro Carril Internacional Mexicana." 

" No, sir," said he, with emphasis, " it means Fools Caught in 
Mexico, in the ranks of which your humble servant does n't 
propose to train any longer than he can help." 

He informed me that the road was being laid with fifty and 
sixty pound rails, the former from England and the latter from 
Germany, which are admitted in bond, duty free, at New Orleans. 
The Mexican laborers he found willing to work, though weak at 
first, but they rapidly improved with good food, to which all their 
lives they have been strangers. 

We started back on a grain car, receiving a cheerful send-off 
from the telegraph operator, to the effect that five men had been 
murdered up the track by the Kickapoos, — which we fully 



588 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

believed ; and that four Kickapoos had been killed by the Mexi- 
can soldiers, — which we doubted. 

The car was filled with dirty Mexicans, who were most intol- 
erably saucy, but with whom we were soon quits, by leaving 
them switched off on a siding till morning, while we travelled for 
the Border on the engine. It was just sunset as we slid away, 
and left them howling lamentations at being left to the mercies of 
Los Indios barbaros, the Kickapoos. I don't believe there were 
ten Indians in the State ; but even one is enough to cause a vil- 
lage full of Mexicans to run like smitten curs. 

Reaching the Rio Escondido, or Lost River, we found the 
rails only " fourth-spiked," but we rattled over them safely, stop- 
ping to take water at the end of the bridge. Our road-master, 
thinking to astonish the keeper in charge of the water-tank, who 
lived here all alone, gave out that seventeen men had been 
murdered down the track, that all the section hands had fled, 
and that we had five Kickapoo " stiffs " aboard, being all we had 
" saved " of a party of fifty or more. To which information the 
waterman calmly replied, that he guessed the boys down the 
track had forgotten how to use their Winchesters. This was a 
rebuke to our friend, who said no more about the mythical 
" stiffs," and we went on without delay to the Rio Grande. 

Orders from the superintendent arrested our engine on the 
southern bank of the river, and an alcalde and posse arrested 
our road-master, before he could secure his " grip " and a few 
necessary articles, and shake from his heels the mud of this land 
of " God and Liberty." We could not help him, and, as he went 
off to cool his heels in the calaboose, he earnestly advised us 
to depart at once from this wretched region, unless we wished 
to swell the ranks of the " fools caught in Mexico," with various 
phrases reflecting on the officials, which it is needless to repeat. 

The moonlight guided us over the low-water bridge and along 
the river-bottom, a mile or so, to the town, where I reached the 
hotel at about eleven o'clock, and in company with a young man 
who had been " run out " of the Sabinas valley on account of 
some infirmity of temper. I inquired what it was that had par- 
ticularly incensed the Mexicans, and he said that it was only be- 






nJf 



m 

Ifs 




ALONG THE RIO GRANDE VALLEY. 59 1 

cause they could n't understand his Spanish. He had given his 
orders to them in a tone loud enough to be heard over the entire 
valley of the Sabinas, but they persisted in not understanding 
him. " And so," he continued, " I pulled out a six-shooter and 
said, ' You miserable, God-forsaken yeller-bellies, and scum of 
soap-grease, do you understand that? 

" And did they? " 

" Well, I should smile. D' you s'pose I 'd leave a good 
position of a hundred and fifty a month, and found, if I did n't 
have to ? " 

I left Eagle Pass with the silvery moonlight flooding its sandy 
streets; another midnight connection placed me aboard the 
California Express, and I awoke next morning at the Pecos 
River. The scenery here is grand enough to warrant a visit 
for no other purpose than to view it, for the track runs along 
the Rio Grande, beneath stupendous cliffs hollowed into natural 
caves. We crossed the Rio Pecos at Painted Cave, 224 miles 
from San Antonio, over an iron bridge that seemed hundreds of 
feet above the foaming river, while the mighty walls of rock tow- 
ered high over the solitary station and the slender structure that 
spanned the chasm. Above the Pecos, the water of the Rio 
Grande seems clear and blue; below it, yellow and turbid. 
Both rivers flow rapidly along between gaunt and gray rock- 
ribbed banks, where the vegetation is solely bear-grass, and 
yucca, and bright flowers, with no succulent grass, and no living 
thing in sight. 

Twenty miles farther on is Langtry, where, in a construction- 
car switched off on a siding, we found an excellent breakfast 
awaiting us. There were no buildings here but the station, yet 
I read in an El Paso paper of that week, " A big boom seems 
to have struck Langtry on the ' Sunset ' ; the deputy surveyor 
of Pecos County is consulting with Mr. Roy Bean about laying 
off lots for a hotel and a stockyard in this enterprising town." 
I said to myself, as I read this item, that " big boom " must have 
knocked all the buildings clean out of the place ; but the real 
significance of the paragraph is shown in an additional morsel 
of news : " Mr. Roy Bean is now ready to sell a few choice lots 



592 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

in this enterprising city." Yet I am ready to believe, know- 
ing the astonishingly rapid growth of those frontier towns, that 
Langtry may be, at the present time of writing, a large and 
flourishing place. 

Our dinner we took at Maxon Springs, 350 miles from El 
Paso, where the usual fine station buildings and water-tank, with 
a telegraph office in a side-tracked baggage car, comprised the 
town. Beyond the curious hills which surround this place, we 
passed a " prairie schooner " and a Mexican ox-team, encamped 
to escape the oppressive heat, while their poor animals sought 
vainly for a dinner off the parched and scanty herbage. It was 
a dreary country, the only other animate objects in view being 
the Chinese section hands, whose tents of flimsy canvas we 
occasionally passed, a hawk now and then, or a coyote. A 
fellow-passenger aptly pictured it, in a single sentence, as a 
region so poor that even a crow " would have to tote his rations 
over it." 

But the land improves as we go westward, and at Mur- 
physville, 230 miles from El Paso, an active goat might get 
a good day's feed from less than an acre. Twenty-five miles 
back from this station is Fort Davis, an important military post, 
and southwest, about eighty miles distant, on the Rio Grande, is 
Presidio del Norte, once an important frontier town and the future 
initial point, perhaps, of the Mexican branch of a transcontinen- 
tal railroad. The run to Valentine, 159 miles from El Paso, is 
over finer territory, which is eagerly sought by rancheros, who 
are willing to pay even four dollars an acre for it, as they are 
crowded out of the better lands to the north and east. At 
Valentine, which is a coaling station, with extensive sheds, a 
turn-table, and a round-house, we got an excellent supper, and 
then steamed on again, over a road everywhere smooth and ex- 
cellent, with fat and lively deer skipping off towards the hills, 
coyotes loping away from the track, and prairie-dog villages 
appearing one after the other. Darkness settled about us, leav- 
ing the impression that we had now reached a land of plenty, 
and we saw no more of Texas until three o'clock next morning, 
when we ran into El Paso. 



ALONG THE RIO GRANDE VALLEY. 



595 



An omnibus was in waiting, and into it I climbed, but had 
hardly seated myself when the vehicle — which had rumbled 
off with great flourish and bluster — stopped, and the frouzy- 
headed conductor poked his face in and said, " Fork over! " 

"How much?" 

" Half-dollar." 

" All right, drive on." 

" On where? " 

" Why, to the hotel, of course." 

" That's just where Ave be now, stranger." 

I was too sleepy to expostulate over the extortion, but de- 
scended to the " office," registered, and was assigned a room at 
the " Central," then the largest hotel in town, and by all odds 
the dirtiest in the State, though fairly served. El Paso, situated 
in the extreme western part of Texas, lies 500 miles from Spof- 
ford Junction and 633 from San Antonio. In approaching it, 
I had run along two sides of an obtuse-angled triangle through 
the great State of Texas, leaving out any trips southward from 
Eagle Pass and San Antonio, comprising above a thousand miles 
across its territory alone. The town — whose inhabitants will 
doubtless be mortally offended because I do not call it a city 
• — is about half a mile across, and situated in the centre of a 
verdureless, mud-colored plain, with a semicircle of gravelly 
hills on one side and the Rio Grande on another. 

Its buildings are mainly new, as houses of wood and brick are 
fast replacing the old adobe hovels ; there are several hotels, 
numerous, large, and well-supplied stores, two banks, many good 
residences going up in the suburbs, and plenty of room for ex- 
pansion. There are several newspapers here, one of which, 
" The Times," displays energy, ability, and enterprise. 

There are abundant indications that El Paso will grow to the 
proportions of a great and perhaps attractive city, as it has an 
advantageous situation, nearly four thousand feet above sea level, 
and is entered by several great railroads. The " Sunset Route" 
passes through it from east to west ; the Texas Pacific meets it 
here, affording the shortest route directly across Northern Texas 
to St. Louis; and the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe comes 



596 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

down from the North, across New Mexico and a most attractive 
country, from the Missouri River. Nearly all the progress of 
El Paso is recent, and is due to these railroads. 

The valley in which El Paso is situated is from a mile to three 
miles wide, and nearly forty miles in length, possesses a soil 
which is extremely productive when well irrigated, yielding ex- 
cellent crops of wheat in particular, and its climate is remarkably 
fine, equalling that of Santa Fe and Mexico City. Above the 
town is a small kiosk, perched on a spur of the hills, whence is 
obtained a delightful view, at the feet of the observer, over the 
town and down the Rio Grande valley ; where the river runs is 
green, while all else is brown and bare, as far as the eye can 
reach, even to the distant mountains of Chihuahua. The banks 
of the Rio Grande — the Rio Bravo del Norte — here are low 
and easily approached, while at Eagle Pass and Laredo they are 
high ; though the volume of water is not appreciably less and the 
current is rapid ; this town also suffers from the terrific storms 
of sand that affect the settlements farther down the river. 

Water-works now supply the city, and street-cars run from 
the principal depots through the town and over the river to the 
Mexican settlement. Two bridges here cross the Rio Grande, 
one belonging to the Central Railroad, and the other to the 
municipality. 

Across the river from El Paso is Paso del Norte, the most 
northerly town of any size in Mexico, as well as the oldest in this 
region, having been founded, as a mission, at or near the close 
of the seventeenth century, probably in 1680. It is an unpre- 
tentious mud village, which is content to remain so, if those 
restless Americanos from over the Border will only allow it to. 
But they will not, and the Yankee " City of the Pass," like La- 
redo, is pushing its apathetic Mexican sister into prominence. 
About the only buildings not of adobe are those composing the 
offices of the Mexican Central, while the other conspicuous and 
native structures are the old church and the mud fort. Both 
are ancient, but the church is of great age, dating probably from 
that period when the Spaniards were driven south from Santa 
Fe" by the Pueblo Indians. Amongst a heap of old church 





'''■'' „ 




ALONG THE RIO GRANDE VALLEY. 599 

registers thrown carelessly into a corner of the chapel, I saw- 
one of the year 1682. The sexton who displays them is a curi- 
osity of the Border, and will, for a small fee, eagerly conduct 
visitors through the little church. 

I secured, and herewith present, a picture of the interior 
of that lonely church on the Mexican Border, which was far 
more interesting to me than that of the great cathedral in Mex- 
ico City, since its ornaments and paraphernalia are reduced 
to the simplest requirements for confessional and pulpit ser- 
vice, and the requisite decoration of Virgin and altar-piece. 
Add in imagination a group of kneeling figures before the altar 
rail, and you have all the characteristic features of a church 
interior throughout Mexico. Farther into the republic, the 
houses of worship are more lavishly adorned, but here, doubt- 
less, the clergy feared to make the usual display of gilded carv- 
ing and paste ornaments, lest the cupidity of the Border ruffian 
should excite him to lay sacrilegious hands thereon. A grateful 
coolness, even in the hottest weather, always pervades these 
churches, owing to the thickness of their walls, whether of 
stone or adobe. Great beams, ornately carved in lilies and 
roses, support the tiled roof of this particular structure, which is 
not so high as some sanctuaries I have seen in Indian pueblos. 

The population of this town, of about five thousand inhab- 
itants, differs in no particular from that of the southern settle- 
ments of the Border, but the place itself is more attractive. In 
front of the church is a barren plazuela, which lies at the head 
of a valley that follows the river on its course for many a mile, 
and here is held the market, which is well worth inspection. 

Irrigation brings fertility to fruitful gardens, and vineyards 
which produce excellent grapes, and raisins which are eaten 
stewed like plums. El Paso wine is in great demand, as it has 
a strong body and has the flavor of Malaga, when mellowed by 
age. The grape is large, blue, rich, and juicy, though a white 
variety is raised with the taste of Muscadine. A population of 
above fifteen thousand supports itself upon the products of the 
valley, and the wheat, pears, peaches, onions, and apples of the 
cooler portions of the mountain range. 



6oo 



TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 



But with the exception of the fruit trees, and the willows 
and poplars of the river-banks, the chaparral is about the only- 
vegetation of the region. " The exquisite climate, at a level of 
nearly four thousand feet above the sea, and these environs 
of cultivated land, contrasting forcibly in their vivid green with 
the gray alluvial hills, and rocky mountain crests, impart to the 
place a charm peculiar to all the scenery of Northern Mexico, 
which has something Levantic, or of a North African character." 
Its gardens and vineyards, and its slow-running acequias, mean- 
dering through narrow streets and adobe walls, give to Paso del 
Norte an aspect different from other frontier towns, as if a frag- 
ment of Southern Mexico had been transported here across the 
intervening deserts. 




XXIX. 



CHIHUAHUA, THE GREAT FRONTIER STATE. 

AT the time of the revolt of the Indians of New Mexico, in 
1680, the Spanish colonists, driven out of Santa Fe, 
retreated southward along the Rio Grande to Paso del Norte, 
— the North Pass, — where they intrenched themselves, and 
remained until reinforcements reached them from Mexico. 

The most fertile valleys in the Rio Grande region lie to the 
northward of El Paso, and were occupied, even long before the 
arrival of the Spaniards, by Indians, who dwelt in settled com- 
munities, and were partially civilized. These Pueblo Indians 
had not penetrated into the territory now pertaining to Old 
Mexico, unless the ruins of the Casas Grandes — to which I 
shall allude further on — belong to them, and are found mainly 
in New Mexico and Arizona. Coming down from the north, 
pursuing the course followed by the little army of Spanish 
fugitives of two hundred years ago, a great railroad line — a 
system, rather, with its giant trunk and numerous feeders — bi- 
sects New Mexico, the territory of the Pueblos, and crosses the 
Rio Grande at El Paso. At Paso del Norte it enters Old Mex- 
ico as the " Mexican Central," though still under the guidance 
of the same wise and sagacious capitalists who projected the 
Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe system westward from the Mis- 
souri River, and southward to the Mexican frontier. 

In the fine station at El Paso your baggage is checked for 
Mexico, and at the still finer station of the " Central," in Paso del 
Norte, across the river, it goes through the farce of an examina- 
tion by the customs officials, and is re-checked to Chihuahua 
City, or farther on. But you yourself are not disturbed by even 
a change of cars, and may retain your seat without molestation, 



602 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

and glide so gently over the Border as to be wholly unaware 
that you have changed your domicil from the United States to 
Mexico. It was thus that I found myself for a third time enter- 
ing Mexican territory, within three weeks of my departure from 
St. Louis, and after having put behind me a total distance (in- 
cluding side trips) of over four thousand miles, over roads that 
would put to shame many of our Eastern tracks, both for 
smoothness and for solidity of construction. 

Chihuahua 1 (pronounced Chee-waw'-waw) is the largest State 
in the Mexican confederation, having an area of 120,000 square 
miles. Sand and alkali plains occupy the greater portion of the 
territory not upheaved into mountains, and it is computed that 
at least one half its surface is unfit for cultivation, or even for 
occupation, by civilized man. But along the rivers, about some 
of the lagunas, and in the mountain valleys, the soil is fertile, 
and produces excellent crops of wheat, corn, flax, beans, barley, 
cotton, and the fruits of the temperate zone, including the best 
grapes for wine manufacture in the country. Grazing is the 
chief occupation, and immense herds are raised and sent over 
the Border for a market, some of the ranches numbering their 
sheep, horses, and cattle by the hundred thousand. Vegetation 
is sparse, except in the mountains and on the borders of the 
streams, where also good timber is said to be abundant. The 
climate is temperate on the uplands, and, though snow falls a 
foot or two in depth on the mountains, extreme heat is some- 
times experienced in the valleys. A peculiarity of the desert 
region of Chihuahua, — which also applies to the barren tracts 
of contiguous Texas and New Mexico, as well as Arizona, — is 
that nearly all the vegetation is supplied with thorns or spines. 
" First come the endless variety of cacti ; these are seen from 
the tiny plant not larger than the finger to the giant petahaya, 
raising its tall stem to the height of fifty feet. Then follow 

1 Probably a Tarumare name, signifying a pleasant place of abode. The Taru- 
mares are Indians living in the hills of Chihuahua, who derive their name from a 
curious game or race, in which they run from morning to sunset, driving before 
them a large ball. The numerous towns and villages with names terminating in 
chic also pertain to, or were formerly inhabited by, these Indians. 



CHIHUAHUA, THE GREAT FRONTIER STATE. 605 

the mesquit (from the Aztec word mezquitl), the tornilla, the 
fouquiera, the agaves and yuccas, all armed with spikes. But 
these thorny and angular forms are not confined to animal and 
vegetable life ; they seem to be extended to nature, even in the 
grandest aspects in which she here appears, as the mountain 
ridges present the most singular summits, terminating in py- 
ramidal points, or resembling towers and minarets. Thus is 
everything in these desert regions peculiar." While the parched 
and desert plains are nearly destitute of birds and quadrupeds, 
they abound, says a very observant writer, in the greatest 
variety of reptiles and insects, such as lizards, " horned frogs," 
tarantulas, alacranes (or scorpions), and rattlesnakes. There 
are also moles, rats, mice, rabbits, and prairie-dogs, while the 
most conspicuous birds are the paysano, or chaparral cock, — 
which not only attacks the rattlesnake, but eats it voraciously, 
— and the omnipresent crow. 

The distance from El Paso to Chihuahua, the capital of the 
State, is 225 miles, mainly through such arid plains as have just 
been described. The worst portion of the desert appears first, 
in the sand-hills, or medanos, which extend in a line some twenty 
miles in length, and through which the railroad ploughs its way 
directly southward. The sand is very light and fine, and is con- 
stantly shifting about, like ocean billows, exposing here and 
there the whitened bones of mules or cattle, which fell and 
perished here in the terrible caravan journeys of former years. 

Through the sand-hills the old wagon trail formerly led, and 
many a train has been ambushed and many a driver murdered 
by the dreaded Apaches, who infested them untiL the advent of 
the railroad. Through the dreariest of desert regions our train 
steamed steadily southward, with no notable object in view until 
we reached San Jose, where, as we were sighing for the flesh-pots 
of El Paso, a stop was made, at an old car turned out on a side- 
track, and dinner was announced. It was an admirable meal, 
abundant in meats and vegetables, excellently cooked and well 
served, and with a good half-hour to enjoy it in. It was per- 
vaded by the genius of the great caterer of the Atchison Road, 
Fred Harvey, whose eating-houses are the best on any line west 



606 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

of the Mississippi, and whose cattle are pastured on the green 
Kansas prairies, so that a toothsome steak is offered the travel- 
ler, whose portion elsewhere would be greasy frijoles or the 
tough integument of a Mexican bull. 

A fantastic mountain had long been in sight, called Monte- 
zuma's Chair, and 113 miles from El Paso we reached a station 
named in memory of the Aztec monarch, where a beautiful house 
was being erected. The scenery did not materially change for 
the better, but wore the same terrible aspect of sterility, until the 
station of Gallego was sighted, 139 miles from Paso. Here is an 
adobe hacienda, a few miles away under the hills, from a spring 
near which the great water-tank at the track is supplied. It is 
surrounded by trees, and the pasturage seems good, but the 
very hills above have long been the lurking-place of the Apaches. 
A boy at the station told me that they had raided the hacienda 
but three days before, killed two men, and carried away seven 
women, — some of whom were rescued by General Crook, — 
and that one man had escaped to the station with two bullet- 
holes through his arm. 

At San Jose we had seen a company of Mexican soldiers on 
their way to Casas Grandes, which lies on the border of the 
Apache stronghold, and is shown in the map given in the suc- 
ceeding chapter. Leaving our line of travel southward for a 
moment, let us glance at these Casas Grandes, or Great Houses, 
buried in the solitary sierras of Northwestern Chihuahua. A 
river of this name takes its rise about a hundred miles northwest 
of the city of Chihuahua, and flows north toward the frontier, 
discharging into Lake Guzman. The valley of Casas Grandes is 
extremely fertile, about two miles Avide, and occupied by a small 
village of Mexicans. It is a strategic point in the Apache cam- 
paign, and the last remnant of these barbarous Indians may be 
eventually captured at this place. 

The " Great Houses," from which town, river, and valley take 
their name, are the ruins of structures of adobe that were erected 
here hundreds of years before the country was settled by the 
Spaniards. They face the cardinal points, and some of the 
walls still standing are thirty feet in height and five feet thick, 



CHIHUAHUA, THE GREAT FRONTIER STATE. 



607 




CASAS GRANDES. 



made of great blocks of adobe, and were undoubtedly built 
with successive terraces, like the Pueblo villages of New Mex- 
ico. The largest building must have been quite 800 feet in 
length by 250 
in breadth. 1 
The group is 
the northern- 
most in Mexi- 
co, and is radi- 
cally different 
from any other 
in the republic, 
though similar 
ruins are found 

in the present territory of Arizona, on the River Gila, and else- 
where. It may have been here in these very Casas Grandes that 
the Aztecs received their first impulse towards a migration 
southward, when a little bird whispered to their chief to go on ; 
and their halting-places may perhaps be traced in the structures 
of stone and adobe, that extend in a long and zigzag line from 
one end of Mexico to the other. 

It has been proposed by engineers, to conduct the mountain 
streams into the desert plains, and fertilize them by a system of 
irrigation, by canals, or else by water obtained by the sinking 
of artesian wells. In this basin bisected by the railroad, there is 
thought to be a great depth of soil, the wash from the mountain 
slopes through ages of erosion, which would, if irrigated, produce 
two crops a year. The pasturage improves as the road runs 
south, and at Laguna it is fair, while at Encinillas, 180 miles 
from El Paso, it looks very inviting. We pass within sight of 
the Laguna of Encinillas, or Evergreen Oaks, which is about 
fifteen miles long by three wide (according to the season), and 
has pleasant grassy shores, about which great herds of large and 
long-horned cattle are feeding. Jack rabbits in great number, 
antelopes, and coyotes skip over the plain, while birds in abun- 
dance float upon and fly over the lake. A sand storm, forcible 
and penetrating, burst upon us as the train entered this plain, 



608 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

hiding everything from sight, even the bases of the jasper hills 
which lie beyond the lake, among the trees on the border of 
which nestles a fortified hacienda with whitened walls. It be- 
longs, with all the land lying along the track for nearly eighty 
miles, to Don Enrique Muller, an enterprising German resident 
of Chihuahua, and Don Luis Terrasus, the Governor of the State. 
It may be a profitable property, with its 70,000 head of cattle, 
when the Apaches are exterminated ; but it has been repeatedly 
raided, and so late as September of 1883 a large number of 
valuable horses and cattle were driven off to the hills. Their 
shepherds and rancheros have been killed almost as fast as their 
places could be supplied ; yet the proprietors bear their losses 
philosophically, as the supply of laborers is practically inex- 
haustible. A dozen miles from Encinillas is the adobe hamlet 
of Sauz, or Willow Dale, the only village on the road, where 
there are about a hundred willows, or cottonwoods, and springs, 
and streams. 

Sacramento, where Colonel Doniphan, on his celebrated march 
in the early stage of the Mexican war, fought a decisive battle, 
lies eighteen miles beyond Sauz. The victory gained by the 
brave Doniphan opened to the United States troops the capital 
city of Chihuahua, less than twenty miles farther on, and which 
may be seen at a distance of nearly ten miles, as it stands upon an 
elevated plain without any intervening vegetation, and is thrown 
into strong relief against a barrier of mountains. The train rolls 
over its solid road-bed at a steady jog of twenty miles an 
hour, down over the dry and treeless plain; and just where the 
hills come together from either side and seem to forbid farther 
progress, there lies Chihuahua, its great church towers rising 
above its stone and adobe houses, with its chapel of Guadalupe 
at one end and the convent of San Francisco at the other. For 
a few miles before we reach the city, a band of green borders 
the eastern hills, — a tree-fringed river, which divides and runs 
around it, and then disappears amongst the hills. 

The city of Chihuahua is built upon a bleak and barren plain, 
surrounded by bare and rocky mountains, at a height above the 
sea, 4,600 feet, that gives it a climate far famed for its salubrity. 



CHIHUAHUA, THE GREAT FRONTIER STATE. 609 

There is probably no town in the United States, of the same 
number of inhabitants, that possesses so many fine buildings, 
or is built upon a plan of such lavish magnificence, as this ; 
for it owes its origin to the discovery of rich mines, and its no- 
ble edifices to the constant stream of silver that flowed from 
them during a very long period. Founded near the close of the 
seventeenth century, it rapidly assumed the proportions of a city, 
and at one time had more inhabitants than at the present day ; 
but when the mines became exhausted, its population dwindled 
to less than 10,000, though now numbering 18,000. When the 
Spaniards were expelled, in 182 1, the mines were entirely aban- 
doned, and the ranches and haciendas likewise fell into decay. 
Indications of those times when the mines were in their great- 
est splendor remain in the vast heaps of silver scoriae, of which 
many walls are built, and even houses, and "in which, accord- 
ing to trustworthy analysis, enough silver remains to make fresh 
smelting, under better and more economical management, a 
profitable undertaking." Looking to this end, a company has 
been formed, in Philadelphia, which has purchased all this 
wastage, and from which it hopes to realize a bonanza. 

The train from El Paso arrives within sight of the city at 
dusk, passing through a colony pertaining to the railroad, 
where great machine-shops cover the ground, and where a 
round-house, with its stalls full of iron horses, is surrounded by 
hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of railway material, and 
where the evidences are strong that an American town will soon 
develop that shall rival the capital city itself. It crosses a 
fine bridge, and comes to a halt at the station. True to Mexi- 
can tradition, the authorities would not allow the railroad to 
approach the city within the distance of a mile. Nor would 
they allow of the purchase of land by the company for build- 
ing sites, lest an American town should be formed that could 
exist independently of their own. So a tramway now connects 
with the city, over the intervening mile of space, the most nota- 
ble objects on the way being the heaps of silver slag, and the 
river that flows around and drains the town. 

The city was well and regularly built, mainly of adobe, with 

39 



6lO TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

some stone buildings, with broad streets which were once well 
paved. It has the usual plaza, or central square, with its cus- 
tomary fountain and bit of greenery, so marked a feature in 
every Mexican town, and so attractive to visitors from the North. 
About this square are the usual public buildings, as the gov- 
ernor's palace and the great church, this latter said to be second 
only in size to the cathedral of Mexico City, and the noblest 
edifice in all Northern Mexico. It is a beautiful and imposing 
structure of light-colored stone, with a central dome, and two 
high towers. Its facade reminded me of that of the cathedral of 
Oaxaca, in Southern Mexico, (though itself a grander building,) 
as it is embellished with life-size statues of our Saviour and the 
twelve Apostles. Its picture is here ; and in accordance with my 
plan, to waste no time on text when the graver can be employed 
to better advantage, I resign the pen in favor of the latter. 

I would advise the visitor to follow my example, at least in one 
particular, and climb to the towers, where there are many bells, — 
one in particular which was shattered by a cannon-ball from the 
invading army of Maximilian, in 1866, — and take a survey over 
the attractive valley from that elevated point. Its numerous 
bells are mellow-toned, and its quaint old clock is illuminated 
at night, so that the many loungers in the Plaza, who idle away 
the hours of evening to the strains of Mexican music and the 
tinkling waters of the fountain, retire promptly and quietly as 
the hour of ten is struck. 

At the close of the last century a massive aqueduct was built, 
about three miles and a half in length, running a long distance 
on arches of masonry. It terminates near the alameda, a great 
grove of cottonwood trees, which shelter grand promenades and 
drives, though given over to pigs, goats, and burros, and to cer- 
tain classes of Mexicans. The chapel of Guadalupe, at the head 
of the alameda, where may be seen a statue of the great Jesuit, 
Loyola, is fresh and attractive ; beyond which a road runs into 
the suburbs, to a quarter of stately houses and gardens. In the 
upper part of the city is another alameda, or public walk, which 
is more of a resort, where a triple row of trees shades numer- 
ous benches of stone and masonry. 



CHIHUAHUA, THE GREAT FRONTIER STATE. 6ll 

Here, at a point mainly aBove the roofs of the city, is a 
vacant lot, the only eligible site for an American hotel, and 
which, I was told, the owner offered to give outright to any 
one who would erect there a structure costing not less than 
$60,000. There is certainly a need for a good public house 
in Chihuahua, as those at present existing are not altogether 
satisfactory. The obstacles in the way, however, are both 
numerous and serious ; the principal being the lack of fuel and 
produce, and the great cost of everything necessary to the run- 
ning -of a successful public house. Of restaurants and second- 
rate hotels Chihuahua now has a sufficient number ; and whether 
the increasing travel will warrant the erection of a costly house, 
which must depend almost entirely upon the " States " for its 
provisions, and entirely upon them for patronage, would seem at 
present problematical. All the requisites for success as a win- 
ter resort — bright sun, pure and bracing air, picturesque (though 
circumscribed) surroundings, and a region new to the average 
tourist — are here. The prices of necessary staples are about 
as follows : flour, $8 per hundred pounds ; wood, $26 per cord ; 
coal, $25 per ton ; chickens, forty cents each ; eggs, fifty cents 
per dozen ; American cheese, fifty cents per pound ; lard, forty 
cents ; butter, sixty cents : sugar (American), thirty-seven cents ; 
ham (American), fifty cents; fresh beef, six to twelve cents; 
mutton, eight to fifteen cents ; native vegetables at low prices. 
Building material is excessively dear, and labor, skilled and 
common, very low. I might add, that Chihuahua possesses one 
monopoly, — a diminutive dog, so small that it leaves nothing 
to be desired, and so intelligent that it never barks and rarely 
bites. Its origin is enveloped in mystery, but its fate, so far as 
Mexico is concerned, is likely to be extermination, as all the 
specimens procurable are bought at fabulous prices and sent 
North. Attempts to propagate the species, outside of Chihua- 
hua, have failed in producing pups that did not outstrip their 
progenitors in size, and thus become worthless. 

An immense trade was carried on here with the United States, 
as the distance is so great to the Mexican producing and manu- 
facturing centres that nearly all supplies are obtained from the 



6l2 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

North. The great trade, which was formerly conducted by- 
means of caravans, with Santa Fe, Kansas City, and St. Louis, 
now, of course, reverts to the railroad. No longer isolated, 
but with direct and rapid communication with the outside 
world, Chihuahua does not now demand its goods in great 
bulk ; its wants are supplied, and of the great number of trad- 
ers and speculators who flocked there at the opening of the 
railroad, the majority have been badly bitten and bitterly dis- 
appointed. The Mexican can only move at a certain pace ; in 
an age of steam he lives with all the simplicity of his ancestors, 
when the patriarchal system was in vogue. You cannot hurry 
him, except you charge upon him with an engine, and then he 
retorts by putting conductor and engineer in jail and confiscat- 
ing your property. He does not take kindly to innovations ; 
he prefers bare floors and unadorned walls to English carpets 
and American furniture. In truth, he prefers to be let alone ; 
he will not allow his household gods to be ruthlessly torn down 
by these iconoclastic " Gringos " ; and if the American flood 
increase to a deluge, and even completely surround him and 
his family, he will continue to live as his fathers did, calm and 
unmoved amid the seething waters of change. 

The Mexican of the Border has an unpleasant custom, when 
trouble arises, of clapping his loving brother from the " Sister 
Republic " into the calaboose. The farther south one goes, the 
less the danger, as a rule, as this undoubtedly arises from the 
frequent vagaries of the American stranger, the outgrowth of 
individual enterprise. This is not always prompted by malice 
or jealousy; indeed, he is remarkably unsuspicious; but it is a 
custom of the country, costumbre del pais, sanctioned -by long 
usage. He makes no distinction between Yankee and Aztec ; 
his rule is, when in doubt, the calaboza. It may happen that 
the unhappy victim languishes for months, perhaps for years, in 
durance vile, but his turn for trial comes round in due course. 
Retributive justice is swift in Mexico, but the processes of the 
law are slow. It may be that the Mexican official is sometimes 
influenced by the haughty bearing and arrogance of the Ameri- 
can, who, conscious of superior antecedents, makes his presence 
a trifle obnoxious. 



CHIHUAHUA, THE GREAT FRONTIER STATE. 615 

" Throughout America," says a traveller, Froebel, "the term 
' American ' is almost exclusively applied to the people of the 
United States ; — a practice by which the ' manifest destiny ' of 
that compound of the most active elements of the present gen- 
eration of mankind is thoughtlessly recognized, even by those 
who are most immediately threatened by it ; for in all Spanish 
countries los Americanos means the people of the great North- 
ern republic." Let this definition, by a foreign writer, satisfac- 
torily explain the use of the word, and its origin, and let it not be 
charged upon us that we have arrogated to ourselves this distinc- 
tive term of superiority. Much to our discredit, it is indiscrimi- 
nately applied to all individuals from over the Border, whether 
the land of their nativity be the New or the Old World. At 
least nine out of ten of these murders — let it be distinctly un- 
derstood — are by foreign-born citizens of the United States, 
coming mainly from that country notorious for its turbulent 
population. While I was in Chihuahua, I remember, two mur- 
ders occurred of a particularly brutal character, and all the 
native citizens of respectability held up their hands in horror at 
the barbarous deeds of los Americanos . Yet they proceeded 
from the usual source. " They were ' Americans,' " said one of 
my countrymen indignantly, commenting on the affair ; " every 
foreigner is an American here; but one was born in England, 
and the other came straight over from Ireland ! " 

Very fortunate it is for Northern speculators and the railway 
men that the Governor of the State, Don Luis Terrasus, and the 
Mayor of the city, Don Juan Zubiran, are gentlemen of broad 
and enlightened views, courteous and refined, who enter heartily 
into the progressive movement, and strive with all their power 
to allay, rather than promote, sectional animosities. The two 
newspapers here printed in the interests of Americans, " The 
Enterprise " and " The Chihuahua Mail," though a little too 
sanguine in their predictions of immediate prosperity for the 
northern investor, are yet excellent pacificators ; and as the 
Mail prints half of its broad columns in Spanish, and does 
not hesitate to bestow a healthy criticism upon the State and 
city government now and then, they are very important factors 



6l6 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

in the Americanizing of Northern Mexico. And by the term 
" Americanizing " I would imply that great civilizing force that 
is permeating the Southern republic, opening its mines, span- 
ning its deserts with bands of steel and electric wires, thus mate- 
rially aiding the central government in the restoration and 
permanent preservation of law and order in its remote and 
hitherto inaccessible provinces. 

" The most hopeful sign of the better fortune dawning for the 
two republics," says a progressive newspaper, the El Paso 
Times, " is to be found in the rapid manner in which the old 
feelings of ill-will, which were wont to prevail between the 
people of the United States and the people of Mexico, are dis- 
appearing. In the near future will doubtless be realized the 
statesman-like vision of Grant : a free trade for the North Amer- 
ican continent, and a moderate tariff for foreign nations." 

The railroad brought to Chihuahua many industries to which 
she was a perfect stranger, one of the first being a great lumber 
company and factory, the result of the joint efforts of Ex-Gover- 
nor Anthony of Kansas, a former Superintendent of the Central 
Railroad, and Mayor Zubiran. A flouring-mill was established 
by Mr. Marshall of California, and a bullion refinery by a learned 
German, to utilize the wastage made in silver by the old pro- 
cesses. Three hotels were soon opened by Americans, which 
were a great improvement over the Mexican meson, with its 
stables in the courts and total disregard of a traveller's wants. 
A livery stable and transfer company was the next American 
enterprise, and the street railroad the crowning one, while rapid 
communication with the North and the safe forwarding of letters 
and packages is attended to by the Wells Fargo Express. Real 
estate agents are here in sufficient number, the " liveliest " of 
whom publish an excellent journal, the " Enterprise," while bank- 
ers of integrity and good standing are already established. A 
telephone company and an ice factory, and everything that Chi- 
huahua needs, or is supposed to require, have been provided, 
except a well-appointed drug store and a really magnificent 
caravansary. News and book companies operate here at great 
profit, while hand in hand with other American institutions the 



CHIHUAHUA, THE GREAT FRONTIER STATE. 617 

Protestant Mission has secured a foothold here. The pioneer in 
this work, representing the combined Presbyterian and Congrega- 
tional Boards, is the Rev. J. D. Eaton, a gentleman who has won 
the love and regard of the entire community, while engaged in 
the labor of bringing together such members of it as, deprived 
of the Christian influences of home, are yet desirous of retaining 
its memories and religious associations sweet and unimpaired. 
I think it is his aim — as it certainly should be — rather to sup- 
ply the spiritual needs of our own people who have wandered 
beyond the reach of the home circle, than to attempt to prose- 
lyte from among the Mexicans. 

A building which strangers to the city never fail to visit is the 
mint, casa de moneda, where not only do they inspect the works 
and operations of this establishment, but are shown a room in 
which Hidalgo, the liberator-priest of Mexico, was confined, the 
night previous to his execution in the adjacent plaza. We need 
not to be reminded that Chihuahua is a silver-producing State, 
for it has long borne that reputation. It contains eighteen or 
twenty well-defined mineral districts, in which are valuable mines 
in working, with others abandoned through Indian incursions. 
Twelve, at least, of these districts contain mines that have a mar- 
ketable value, and are profitable to their owners. The number 
of large reduction works is twenty, and constantly increasing. 
The systems employed are the smelting and the patio (see 
Chapter XXII.), though the greater portion of the metal is ex- 
tracted by the former, and by an improved process introduced 
by American capitalists. 

Not only the mint is a constant witness to the great yield 
of the mines, but even the cathedral. Its walls, to use a figura- 
tive expression, are laid in silver, and from "turret to founda- 
tion stone " this vast structure was the product of a single mine. 
How? Let us see. Numerous writers have adverted to this 
fact, but I will quote from one the least prejudiced, because 
disinterested, the German traveller, Froebel: " Twelve or fif- 
teen miles distant from the capital are the mines of Santa Eula- 
lia, from which it derived its ancient wealth and splendor, and 
all the mountains of which, within a space of six square miles, 



6l8 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

contain silver. Over two hundred mines have been worked 
here, and more than fifty of these have shafts not less than six 
hundred feet in depth. Several of them are so extensive, that 
it takes a day to pass through a single one. When these mines 
were at the height of their prosperity, a tax of a real was lev- 
ied upon each marco — half-pound — of silver produced, for the 
building of the cathedral of Chihuahua and the church of Santa 
Eulalia. The first cost $600,000 (one writer says $800,000) ; 
the last, $150,000; and a surplus of $150,000 remained to the 
building fund when both were completed. Between 1703 and 
1833 silver was taken from these mines amounting to 43,000,000 
marcos, or about $344,000,000." This author then adds : " For 
these mines and the town of Chihuahua, there is every prospect 
of a renewed and lasting period of wealth, since, sooner or later, 
there can be no doubt that capital and enterprise will be found 
to develop the natural resources of this locality." 

This statement, made over thirty years ago, was in a measure 
prophetic, as a company of Eastern capitalists has commenced 
work at Santa Eulalia, with all the machinery necessary for 
pumping out the abandoned mines, and exposing the veins that 
produced so many successive bonanzas. One of their tunnels 
alone is seven hundred and fifty feet in length, eight feet high, 
by seven wide, and is intended to tap several mines. 

In the banking-house of McManus & Co. I was shown a 
mass of silver as large as a coco-nut, containing that peculiar 
formation called clavos (or nails), like wires or nails of silver 
melted together. It had just been received from the Batopilas 
mines, now owned by a company, the " Batopilas Consolidated," 
represented by Ex-Governor Shepherd. At the same time 
the conducta came in from Batopilas with $60,000 in pure sil- 
ver, as the returns for the month's work. In the list of mines 
of Northern Mexico, the Batopilas occupy the first place, as 
they have yielded many bonanzas and have produced some of 
the largest and most beautiful masses of native silver that have 
ever been exhibited to the world. They lie on the western 
declivity of the Sierra Madre, southwest of the city of Chihuahua, 
and distant five days by coach or muleback. The distance from 



CHIHUAHUA, THE GREAT FRONTIER STATE. 619 

Parral is about two hundred miles, nearly due west, and the 
district is situated in a very deep ravine, where the climate is 
warm, but healthy. 

The metallic lodes, says Mr. Ward, visible by their elevated 
crests, are almost innumerable. The principal mines, most of 
which have been in bonanza, are the Carmen, San Antonio, Ne- 
vada, Pastrana, Arbitrios, Dolores, Candelaria, and Buen Suceso. 
The Carmen is the mine that produced the enormous wealth of 
the Marquis of Bustamente, and from which a mass of solid 
silver was extracted which weighed 425 pounds. The ores of 
Pastrana were so rich that the lode was worked by bars, with a 
point at one end and a chisel at the other, for cutting out the 
silver. Buen Suceso was discovered by an Indian, who swam 
across the river after a great flood. On arriving at the other 
side he found the crest of an immense lode laid bare by the 
force of the waters. The greater part of this crest was pure and 
massive silver, and sparkling in the sun. The Indian extracted 
great wealth from his mine, but on arriving at the depth of three 
varas, the abundance of water obliged him to abandon it. In 
the Batopilas district the silver is generally found pure, and 
unaccompanied by any extraneous substances. The reduction 
of the ores is consequently easy and simple. When the silver 
is not found in solid masses which require to be cut with a 
chisel, it is generally finely sprinkled through the lode, and often 
seems to nail together the particles of stone through which it is 
disseminated. The lodes are of considerable width, but the 
masses of silver are only met with at intervals. 

Not so far to the south is the Cusihuiriachi District, in the 
centre of which region is a metallic deposit in the general shape 
of a tree, from the trunk of which radiate many veins in every 
direction. Upon the hill, which is the highest of this branch of 
the Sierra Madre, are the mines of silver, lead, and zinc of San 
Martina, San Antonio, and San Bartolo, which have been re- 
cently purchased by an American company, for a large sum, and 
are full of rich promise for the future. 

One evening, as I sat on the balcony of the American House, 
overlooking the beautiful plaza, a shouting and cracking of whips 



620 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

arrested my attention, and there came into view a caravan of 
mules, which lengthened out until nine fourteen-mule teams 
had passed down the broad street and disappeared in the dusk. 
They were the teams used in transporting machinery and mining 
supplies to those far away camps in the mountains. At another 
time a great wagon drawn by long yokes of oxen came up from 
the south, from Mexico City, quite a thousand miles away, with 
its spare wheel lashed under the wagon body, and its drivers and 
cattle looking worn and weary. Not many more trips are in 
store for them, for the railroad covers much of their long, weari- 
some route, and they will soon be as useless as their fifth wheel, 
except in cases of emergency, unless they seek new fields in 
Central America. 

These carts were laden principally with the beautiful pottery 
of Guadalajara, a great State of Central Mexico, famous for these 
products of the ceramic art and for the vast cathedral of its cap- 
ital city. To complete the series of pictures of the principal 
churches and cathedrals of Mexico, I insert an engraving of this 
great and splendid religious edifice. 

On the arrival of the first train from the North, which was but 
eight months previous to my visit, the entire population went 
out to greet its distinguished visitors, and the city, even to the 
high towers of the cathedral, was illuminated. The next day 
was that of the Independence of Mexico, the 16th of Septem- 
ber, and to the booming of cannon and ringing of bells was 
added, for the first time in Chihuahua's existence, the whistle of 
the locomotive. All Chihuahua, wrote the correspondent of a 
Texas paper at that time, were around the railroad track as 
the train came in. " All who were able to ride, walk, or crawl 
were there. And of the assembled thousands, fully one half 
belonged to the untutored, mystery-worshipping class, who had 
never seen even the picture of a locomotive or train of cars. 
They had heard of the wonders of the cars from stray travellers 
of their caste, who by driving freight wagons to El Paso had 
seen them, and were ready to behold an engine or a devil. But 
when they saw the wonderful thing itself, coming like a black 
mastodon, roaring, hissing, rumbling, tearing along through the 



CHIHUAHUA, THE GREAT FRONTIER STATE. 623 

darkness, with its dazzling headlight, we can excuse them from 
making the sign of the cross, and bending to the ground, while 
they murmured, — as many did, — ' Ave Maria Santissima, 
estan llegando el diablo ; salvarnos ! ' " 

It halted not, this black monster of invasion, but proceeded on 
its way southward, and when I was there, in June, 1883, was four 
hundred miles south of the Border. In company with a delight- 
ful acquaintance, Mr. Motter, a well-known lawyer of St. Joseph, 
Missouri, I left Chihuahua one night, at eleven o'clock, for the 
end of track. The road had not then been " accepted " beyond 
the city by the government engineer, but a caboose was attached 
to every construction train in which passengers who chose to 
make the venture could stow themselves at their own risk. The 
opportunity for visiting hitherto inaccessible country and distant 
relations, without cost, was too tempting for the Mexican to re- 
sist, and the caboose was so crowded that a seat on the floor, 
even, was at a premium. The Mexicans had an abundance of 
provender, and they ate, and smoked, and spat, until the air was 
blue, themselves gorged almost to bursting, and the floor itself 
in the condition of their own dirty hovels. The men were volu- 
ble, the women loquacious, and the babies yelled all the night 
long, so that we were not at all sorry when daylight came. 

About two miles from the city are the reduction works of the 
Santa Eulalia Mining Company, which are connected with their 
mines by a short narrow-gauge track, and are doing well. Ad- 
joining this property is a vast hacienda, comprising some 62,000 
acres, situated in a very fertile valley, and owned by Senor 
Enrique Miiller. I drove over this great property at a later 
date with Sefior Miiller, who is a German by birth, and a gentle- 
man of culture, broad views, and great attainments. He was 
building an adobe residence, with cut stone portals and pillars, 
200 feet long by 125 feet wide, surrounding a court, and with 
graceful towers at every angle. All the work was done by his 
own laborers, even to the sculptured columns and arched portals. 
He had raised, in the year past, 70,000 bushels of wheat, and 
20,000 of corn, while his herds covered the pastures for miles. 
The adobe quarters for his laborers were several hundred feet 



624 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

in length, each family having two snug little rooms, and consti- 
tuted one wall of his nursery, in which he had already set out 
over 3,000 fruit trees. They do things on a vast scale in Mex- 
ico, when they can get the land; next below Sefior Muller are 
several haciendas, one of 60,000, and another of 125,000 acres. 

With us, on the car, was a part owner of the Santa Eulalia 
mines, and of the celebrated iron mountain, the Cerro Mercado, 
of Durango, who was going to visit the latter, and would have 
to " stage it " four hundred miles beyond the end of track. 

We ran for twenty-seven miles through a single grant, belong- 
ing to Sefior Horcasitas, and at a curve around the Santa Eulalia 
mountains entered another hacienda of 45,000 acres, owned by 
the bankers, McManus & Son, of Chihuahua. At the Rio San 
Pedro a magnificent bridge of hewn stone, soft in color and 
easily worked, was being constructed across the broad and ex- 
posed river-bed. Over the river we entered another ranch, Las 
Delicias, of 150,000 acres, with 10,000 under cultivation, and 
which is said to rent for $15,000 per annum. The moderately 
fertile lands of the celebrated Conchos River lie beyond, and we 
rode for twenty-seven miles within sight of the stream, and along 
an immense irrigating canal, which renders this otherwise waste 
land productive in wheat, corn, barley, and even in cane, cotton, 
and tobacco. 

At the fork of the Conchos and Rio Florida lies the adobe 
town of Santa Rosalia, with about 9,000 inhabitants, unattract- 
ive save for its plazuela, with its flowers, and rivulets, and sing- 
ing birds. Above the town are the ruins of an adobe fort, 
taken by the gallant Doniphan on his march through the country 
to join General Taylor, at the beginning of the Mexican war. 
Four miles from the town are the hot springs of Santa Rosalia, 
famous throughout Northern Mexico for their curative proper- 
ties ; and these we visited, leaving the train with its expectorat- 
ing passengers and shrieking infants, and taking to a vehicle 
denominated by courtesy a " hack." The ride, though rough, 
was delightful, first through the mud-colored hamlet, then down 
a shady lane, across an acequia. Fording the Rio Conchos, we 
passed over a mile of fertile farm land, level as a floor, and every 



CHIHUAHUA, THE GREAT FRONTIER STATE. 625 

inch under cultivation. The Indian farmers were peacefully 
ploughing, with wooden ploughs, driving their teams four abreast, 
and leaving behind them furrows such as might be made by 
dragging a sharpened stick of timber over the ground. Yet 
their acres were broad and free from weeds, and smiling, be- 
neath the glorious sun of Northern Mexico, in cotton, tobacco, 
corn, and cane, intermixed with desirable fruits, such as apples, 
quinces, and peaches. They lived, to be sure, in mud hovels, 
mere boxes of adobe brick, hardly ten feet high by twenty 
square ; but these huts are cool in summer and warm in winter ; 
and what more does man want, in this climate of perpetual sun- 
shine? The springs themselves lie under a cream-colored bluff, 
about fifty feet in height, from which they come pouring out, to 
the number of six, some smelling of sulphur, others of sulphu- 
retted hydrogen, and all of them hot. Each one is guided into 
an adobe pen, or mud hut, about ten feet square, and in the mud 
floor of which a hole is sunk about six feet by three. An attend- 
ant living in another mud hovel furnishes you with a towel and 
a sheet, and then you take your choice of an arsenic, a sulphur, 
an iron, or a magnesia spring, or of another in which all these 
elements are compounded, with a resultant stench that is com- 
pletely overpowering, even in this land of evil odors. 

A romantic history pertains to these springs ; but their future 
is of more importance than their past, just now, for the rail- 
road company, with that liberal policy and foresight which 
have characterized the managers of the Atchison system, pur- 
poses to make of Santa Eulalia a watering-place second to 
none south of Las Vegas in New Mexico. There is a good deal 
in these springs besides water, and there is little doubt that a 
hotel will take the place of the present ill-conditioned quarters, 
within the space of a few years. 

The valley of the Rio Florida is reputed the richest in Chi- 
huahua, yet there were but three haciendas in sight in a run of 
forty miles. They, indeed, were almost boundless in extent, 
as measured by the eye, and their acequia, or irrigating canal, 
was nearly fifty miles in length ; many a league of waste land, 
covered originally with mesquit, was being reclaimed through 

40 



626 



TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 



its influence, and corn and wheat were springing up wherever its 
trickling rills had penetrated. This section was the crossing 
place of the Apache trail from the Sierra Madre to the east- 
ern plains, and throughout these fields we saw scattered circular 
adobe watch-houses, to which the laborers would retreat at the 
first note of alarm. The Apaches have not been seen here for a 
number of years, and will never probably come this way again ; 
yet every hacienda has suffered from them, and one field was 
pointed out to us where twenty laborers had been killed in a 
single fight. Towards sunset, in the centre of the valley, we 
passed one hacienda where the Indian peons were all sitting 
on the flat roofs of their mud dwellings, a picture of which I 
was reminded later, when visiting the Pueblos of New Mexico. 
The peon wears only cotton drawers and a hat, perhaps sandals, 
and at night a shirt and sarape ; in fact, the Indian of the Bor- 
der differs but slightly in dress from his red brother of Yucatan 
and Southern Mexico. 







XXX. 



SONORA AND THE APACHE COUNTRY. 

T3Y the Proyecta de Guerra of 1837, the government of Chi- 
-*-^ huahua, worn out by the repeated atrocities committed on 
its defenceless ranchos and pueblos, offered a bounty for every 
Indian scalp: $100 for that of every warrior, and $50 for that 
of a squaw. This proyecta was soon repealed, but not before its 
beneficial workings were made manifest in the lessening of the 
number of los barbaros about the region of the capital city. It 
was almost from necessity that the project was, in effect, again 
lately put in operation in the raids against those Indians, though 
bounty for the scalp of a " buck " was advanced to $250, while 
the soldiers were cautioned to extend the shield of protection 
over the less guilty and defenceless women and children. 

Having had dealings with savage Indians for over three cen- 
turies, the Mexican government has finally evolved a policy that 
should commend itself to our own. The squaws are, indeed, 
nearly as irreclaimable as the men, but they endure confinement 
with stoical indifference, and some of them even take kindly to 
service in Mexican families. The children are assigned to good 
masters, and though scattered throughout the State, so as en- 
tirely to remove them from tribal influences, they are treated 
with great humanity. But even after years of captivity, many 
of these Apache children, although brought up as privileged 
members of the family, will escape and flee to the mountains, 
such is their inherent barbarism. 

Confined in the jail at Chihuahua, at the time of my visit, 
were about twenty Apache prisoners, women and children. 
Nearly all the women were busy with the needle, and one of them, 
an aged squaw, with head white with the frosts of many winters, 



628 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

was engaged in an insectivorous hunt in the hair of her neigh- 
bor, that required not only good eyesight but deft fingers. They 
seemed to enjoy the cool rooms of their prison, which opened 
into a clean patio, shaded by fig-trees ; and one of them, who 
had recently given birth to an infant, seemed an object of solici- 
tude to her companions. This babe, then about three weeks 
old, was very light in color, had a thick head of jet black hair, 
and, as it lay sleeping on the stone floor, looked the picture of 
health and innocence. 

My acquaintance with the Apaches began in the first week in 
June, at which time there were some two thousand Mexican 
troops in the Sierras and on their skirts, with headquarters at 
Casas Grandes and Corallitos, in the northwestern part of the 
State. They were honestly endeavoring to co-operate with Gen- 
eral Crook, who had then been absent, and unheard from, in the 
mountains of the Apache region, for quite a month. It had 
been reported that intense feeling existed in Mexico against the 
United States government, on account of the passage of the 
Border by our troops ; but this I found not to be the case. 
There was a feeling, it is true, — but also shared in by all sensi- 
ble residents of the Southwest, — that the United States troops 
were but carrying out a false a?id mistaken policy ; that they were 
in Mexico, not for the purpose of meting out justice to murder- 
ers who had perpetrated atrocities without a parallel in Indian 
warfare, but to cajole them into returning to the flesh-pots of 
the reservation, with all their plunder stolen from Mexican haci- 
endas, their herds of cattle and horses, there to recruit for fresh 
forays into Mexican territory. 

The Mexicans know, through two hundred years and more of 
bitter experience, that the caustic remark, usually attributed to 
General Sheridan, that " the only good Indian is a dead Indian," 
is perfectly true as applied to the Apache. Hence it is that the 
grim humor of the farce enacted by our government was hardly 
appreciated, in view of the tragedy that they knew was sure to 
follow ! 

Coming down from Santa Fe, New Mexico, on the 16th of 
June, on my way to the Gulf of California, I learned, at the little 



SONORA AND THE APACHE COUNTRY. 



629 



station of Willcox, on the " Southern Pacific," that General 
Crook's command had recrossed the frontier, and that he himself 
was in the hotel of that very place. Hearing this, and that, fur- 
ther, the troops with the Indian prisoners would be in early next 
day, I at once applied to the conductor for a stop-over check ; 
for I had a through ticket for Sonora, and local travel on the 
Southern Pacific is ten cents a mile. But 
he had then already given the signal for 
starting the train, and I had nothing to 
do but clamber on board again. One 
hope remained ; it was an up-grade for 
the next twenty-five miles, 
and an extra engine was 
assisting from Willcox, to 
which it would return 
from Dragoon Summit, 
where I secured the cov- 
eted stop-over. The en- 
gineer — to his credit let 
me say it — refused me a 
ride on the engine, saying 
it was against orders ; but 
after he had got the old 
machine spinning down 
the steep incline, he found 
I was a passenger, and 
could not then well put 
me off. 

Willcox, which lies as near the point of departure for the 
Apache country as any station on the Southern Pacific, consists 
of two straggling lines of shanties and frame houses, and pre- 
sents a bold front, with a saloon in every other building. It is 
an outfitting station, and has several well-stocked stores and 
large corrals. Though it was Saturday, and Crook's forces were 
momentarily expected, the town was very quiet, and but few of 
the inhabitants were intoxicated ; save one poor devil, who lay 
dead drunk on the platform scales all day. He must have been 




APACHE SQUAWS. 



630 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

weighed during the night, and found wanting — at the police 
station ; for his place was vacant in the morning. 

General Crook was not visible till late in the evening, as he 
was taking a much-needed rest ; but he then gave an inter- 
view to the two sons and former law partner of the murdered 
Judge McComas, who, with his wife, was killed at a short 
distance only from Lordsburg, a station on the railroad about 
seventy miles from Willcox. The General gave the anxious 
young men much encouragement to hope that their little 
brother, Charley, who had been carried away by the Indians, 
was yet alive. He told them he was quite certain the little 
captive would be brought in within seven days, as he had de- 
tailed Indians acquainted with his whereabouts to search for 
him. Notwithstanding this assurance, subsequent events have 
proved our Indian fighter to be in error, as it would seem that 
Charley was not a long time even in captivity, but was brutally 
murdered not long after his capture. 

The wily Indians well knew what an influence it would have 
in making subsequent terms for peace, if it should be thought 
that he was then alive and well, and we have many reasons for 
believing that the " Gray Fox," as they denominate General 
Crook, was outwitted by the untutored savage in several in- 
stances, and that the latter was chuckling, for more reasons than 
one, when, in reply to a question at an interview in the Sierras, 
the " Gray Fox " made a mistake in the word for his Apache 
appellation. 

On the morning of the 17th of June, General Crook and his 
staff started in an ambulance for a "military post in the interior. 
Early the same day a party of us bestrode some lively horses 
and rode out to Croton Springs, where we found Crook's com- 
mand encamped, and already picketing their horses, while the 
Indians were scattered over the fields wherever their fancy 
seemed to have taken them. It was difficult to distinguish cap- 
tives from captors, for the famed scouts were not in many in- 
stances better armed than their " prisoners," except that the last 
were mainly children and squaws, and the remainder old and 
decrepit men. 



SONORA AND THE APACHE COUNTRY. 63 1 

These Apache scouts were a muscular, sinewy body of men, 
and their countenances were of a cheerful cast, save for an as- 
pect of ferocity bestowed by an overhanging shock of jet-black 
hair. This was bound in place by a strip of scarlet cloth ; a 
loose-hanging shirt fell over their scanty drawers, or deer-skin 
leggings, and their feet were encased in fine and close-fitting 
moccasons with raw-hide points, which projected beyond and 
turned up in front of the toes. Some were in uniform and 
wore blue trousers, kept in place by a broad leather belt, which 
contained as many rounds of cartridges as could be crammed 
into it, generally forty. All were armed with the regulation 
Springfield breech-loading rifle, and every one bore a brass tag, 
with a number on it corresponding with another attached to a 
minute description of the bearer at the San Carlos reservation. 

Our first respects were paid to Captain Crawford, commander 
of the scouts, and Lieutenant Gatewood and the bronzed and 
war-worn troopers who comprised the company from the Sixth 
Cavalry. Most of them were asleep, and but one man could 
be seen on guard in the whole encampment, though the Indians, 
scouts and all, outnumbered the whites ten to one, and were 
not a long way distant from their retreats in the Mexican moun- 
tains. The squaws and children, temporarily deprived of the 
protection of the gallant " bucks," had already raised shelters 
over themselves and their belongings, in the shape of huts of 
brush, or cloth tents, and there they sat, as hideous groups 
of redskins as ever drew the breath of life. There they sat, or 
wandered around the camp, or went to the spring for water, or 
staid by their fires and cooked the entrails and garbage of the 
slaughtered cows, while choice cuts of beef fairly covered the 
tops of all the bushes. Revelling, even rioting, in abundance, 
these Indians were far better fed than the brave and patient 
soldiers who had penetrated to their far-off stronghold, and 
brought them out to be petted and fattened at the expense of 
good Uncle Sam. "-Beefsteak and chops for the red- 
skins," said one of the soldiers, " and sow-belly and hard-tack 
for us." This is the usual complaint, I know, but in this case it 
was justified by the fact. 



632 



TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 




There were in all about three hundred and eighty captives, 
but forty of whom were, or ever had been, warriors; among 
them were several chiefs who had been famous, but who, from 

age or incapacity, no long- 
er had influence with the 
tribe. One of these, named 
Loco, or Old Crazy, was 
once a famous leader, but 
is now a pitiful old man, 
with shrunken and palsied 
limbs, and so poor that he 
even sold his neck-orna- 
ments, his tweezers for 
picking out the superflu- 



ous hairs on 
his face, and 
his brass ear- 
rings, for a 
little silver. 
But he was 
an exception 
to the others, 
who were fat, 
saucy, and 
rich beyond 
the dreams of 
Indian ava- 
rice. The others figuring as chiefs were Chato, Bonito, Geroni- 
mo, Nachez, and Nana, who were engaged all day in playing 
a peculiar game with long poles and hoops. The whole band 
was well supplied with money: gold, silver, greenbacks, and 
fractional currency of Chihuahua, amounting, it was thought, to 
a sum not less than $5,000, as when captured they had over one 
hundred ponies laden with plunder, not only cloths, saddles, 




AN APACHE AND HIS WIGWAMS. 



SONORA AND THE APACHE COUNTRY. 633 

and money, but even gold and silver watches. The ornaments 
of bucks and squaws were made of silver dollars beaten into 
stars, and some wore necklaces of double-eagles, American gold. 
They were so well " fixed " that I could not purchase any of 
their effects, such as I have hitherto found the Southern Indians 
so ready to part with, except one small jicarilla, or water-gourd, 
covered with bear-skin. 

Nearly all were engaged in their favorite pastime of monte, or 
Mexican cards, and the circles formed for this purpose were 
many, and the crowds about them dense and numerous. In 
the afternoon two great loads of goods came out from Willcox ; 
and these savages, with arms yet in their hands, and thrifty in 
murdered men's money, crowded around the wagons and quickly 
emptied them, bartering their spoil, some of it yet red with the 
blood-stains of their victims, for the luxuries of civilization. 

I witnessed this, not without indignation, and also another 
sight which was "calculated to hasten the circulation of Yankee 
blood a little ; no less than the purchase of the veritable watch 
taken from the dead body of the murdered Judge McComas, 
and for which, that very day, his former law partner paid fifty 
dollars to recover for the family ! Better, a thousand times, 
thought I, the Indian policy of the Mexican, than such a vacil- 
lating one as ours, which sacrifices the lives of valuable soldiers 
and hardy frontiersmen to the support of a horde of villains, 
whose crimes, in a civilized community, would send them to 
eternity with the rope of outraged justice around their necks ! 

As I have said, feasting and boasting seemed the sole occu- 
pation of that "captured" horde, and, as night fell, an Indian 
drum sounded a call for a savage dance of victory, — a victory 
of Indian cunning and diplomacy. All was joy and happiness 
in Arizona at that time, June, 1883, for it was thought that the 
territory was finally freed from predatory bands, as General 
Crook, in his despatches, gave the most emphatic assurance 
that no Indians were left likely to cause disturbance, or that 
would not soon be on the reservation ; yet within less than three 
months reports of murders and wholesale cattle-stealings by 
the Apaches came thick and fast from Chihuahua and Sonora. 



634 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

The end, if I may judge from the tone of the Western press, 
is not yet, nor likely to be, until the last Apache " buck " is sent 
to happier hunting-grounds than the Sierra Madres. We should 
not forget, in our spasms of sympathy with the redskin, that 
the white man also has claims upon our humanity. 

The Apaches, it is well known, are divided into several differ- 
ent tribes, so widely separated that they have different dialects. 
In 1876 their number was estimated at 10,000, but at present it 
is not much over 6,000. They are probably of Mexican stock, 
descendants of those fierce Chichimecs, who have remained 
nomads and barbarians from time immemorial. Nearly all the 
tribes have been brought into the United States reservations 
except the Chiricahuas, whose haunts were the almost inacces- 
sible fastnesses of the Sierra Madre Mountains in Northwestern 
Chihuahua and Northeastern Sonora, where rocky gorges, deep 
canons, and pine-crested heights gave them ample security. 
With their homes in this vast wilderness, whose solitudes were 
never penetrated by whites or Mexicans until last year, they 
have ravaged the territory on both sides the border line ever 
since it was first inhabited by a Christian population. 

The records of the Spanish missionaries, who were the first to 
establish settlements in Northern Mexico, one of which was the 
Presidio of Fronteras, in 1690, show that they were constantly 
carrying on an unequal struggle with their savage neighbors, 
whom they could neither subjugate nor civilize. From a col- 
lection of notes written by one of these missionaries in 1762, we 
learn that there were then, in the province of Sonora alone, 
inclusive of the five presidios, twenty-two inhabited and forty- 
eight depopulated Spanish settlements and mining towns, and 
but two occupied ranchos, while there were one hundred and 
twenty-six devastated. 

This condition of affairs has not been improved by the lapse 
of time, nor have any of the settlements thus destroyed by 
Indians or abandoned through fear of them, ever been rebuilt. 
To one unacquainted with the country which borders the Si- 
erra Madres it would be difficult to picture its desolation and 
wretchedness. Though it has a fine climate, fertile valleys, and 



SONORA AND THE APACHE COUNTRY. 



635 



perhaps rich mineral deposits, the traveller finds only deserted 
haciendas and settlements, while the few inhabitants are crowded 
into small villages, tilling the soil only in their immediate 
neighborhood, living in constant dread of the savages, and pos- 




A WARRIOR AND HIS WEAPONS. 

sessing but a small number of cattle and horses, owing to the 
frequent raids. Thickly scattered along every trail are seen 
small mounds of stone surmounted by rude crosses, showing 
where some poor wayfarer has been murdered by the Indians. 
" Infelice Sonora " was the name aptly applied by the old writers 



636 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

to this devastated territory. Of the Chihuahua territory on the 
eastern side of the mountain range a Mexican writer recently 
said : " At present every hacienda must be converted into a 
castle of the Middle Ages, every shepherd into a soldier; pro- 
prietors of estates enjoy no security in their possessions, and 
the common people gather themselves into villages to escape 
from the exposed country in which they are certain to become 
the victims of the bloodthirsty savages from the wilderness." 

The last extensive raid of which we have information was 
committed in 1882, when a band of seventy-five warriors roamed 
over entire Northern Sonora, spreading everywhere death and 
desolation, even to the very suburbs of the large cities, as Ures, 
the former capital. Though it is difficult to get any data as to 
the extent of these outrages, it is safe to say that at least one 
hundred people were murdered during this raid, without the loss 
of a single Indian. They then departed for Chihuahua, where 
their work of blood was continued, in the neighborhood of Car- 
men and Casas Grandes, and they returned to their stronghold 
with six captives and three hundred head of stock. 

Nor have they confined their operations to Mexico, for the 
annals of New Mexico and Arizona tell similar tales of woe ; even 
so late as 1882 they killed seventeen people in these territories. 
The Mexicans have again and again sent expeditions against 
them, which generally returned unsuccessful. Their repeated 
failures are not difficult of explanation, though it is hard for 
one unacquainted with Indian warfare to understand why a small 
band like" this, which seems never to have contained more than 
three hundred warriors, has not been subjugated or exterminated. 
One of the reasons is, that the Indians live in an unexplored 
wilderness, without fixed habitations, camping in small bodies, 
here to-day and off to-morrow, and ever ready to scatter at the 
signal of danger. Hence there is no fixed objective to which 
troops can march. Following on the trail of the last raiding 
party, they reach, perchance, the outskirts of the Indian strong- 
hold ; without guides to head the advance, they find themselves 
in a perfect labyrinth of trails, leading in all directions, with no 
signs of the foe, save here and there a deserted rancheria. To 



SONORA AND THE APACHE COUNTRY. 637 

move on seems useless and hazardous, and as their rations (all 
of which they are obliged to carry) are giving out, there is 
nothing to do but sound the retreat. Then it is that the In- 
dians again assemble, and, being perfect masters of the country, 
make use of every gorge and canon from which to pour a deadly 
fire upon the weary and discouraged soldiers. 

The Department of Arizona has been for several years in 
charge of General Crook, who has gained a reputation for brav- 
ery and skill as an Indian fighter second to that of no other officer 
of our army. When the last outbreak occurred he planned a 
campaign that should penetrate to the Indian stronghold, hoping 
thereby to strike terror into the hearts of the enemy and entirely 
crush them out. The difficulties attending Indian fighting in 
this department are not alone those resulting from the unfavora- 
ble character of the territory, but are augmented by the treaty 
stipulations between Mexico and the United States, by which 
alien troops are not permitted to cross the Border. Cogni- 
zant of these restrictions, the Apaches raid first one country and 
then the other, retreating over the line, where they for a while 
defy the pursuing soldiers, and enjoy their plunder unmolested. 

After visiting the officers in command of the Mexican troops 
in Sonora and Chihuahua, and securing their promise of co- 
operation, if possible, and the assurance that treaty violations 
in this instance would be winked at, in view of the great ad- 
vantages likely to accrue to Mexico from the bold movement, 
General Crook commenced his march into that unknown terri- 
tory. In some respects this hazardous undertaking is without a 
parallel, and the interest excited and sustained during the forty 
days of his absence, when rumors of every sort filled the press, 
was without a precedent in the annals of our Indian campaigns. 

A renegade Chiricahua Indian, called Peaches, conducted the 
troop over a trail which led into the heart of the Sierre Madres, 
for a distance of two hundred miles, — a country hitherto almost 
unknown to civilized man. The little band consisted of General 
Crook, with Captain Bourke, of the Third Cavalry, and Lieuten- 
ant Fiebeger, Corps of Engineers, as aids, and Captain A. R. 
Chaffee's company of the Sixth Cavalry, of forty-six men, and 



638 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

one hundred and ninety-three Apache scouts, under Captain 
Crawford, assisted by Lieutenants Gatewood and Mackay. The 
accompanying map, kindly furnished me by Lieutenant Fiebeger, 
shows the devious trail and the site of every camp and skirmish. 
The campaign cannot be more tersely described than in the 
modest despatch of General Crook, sent in immediately after his 
return to United States territory. 

" Silver Creek, Arizona, June 12th, 1883. 

" Left here May 1, with one hundred and ninety-three Apache scouts 
under Captain Crawford. Got Lieutenants Wood and Mackay, with 
Captain Chaffee's company of forty-two men of the Sixth Cavalry, and 
rations for two months on mules, and followed the hostiles. The Chiri- 
cahua country is of indescribable roughness, and a number of mules lost 
their footing, and, stepping from the trail, fell down precipices and were 
killed. The stronghold of the Chiricahuas is in the very heart of the 
Sierra Madre. The position is finely watered, and there is a dense growth 
of timber and plenty of grass. They had been camped near the head of 
the Bavispe, occupying prominent, elevated peaks, affording a fine look- 
out for miles and rendering surprise almost impossible, and their retreats 
were made secure through the rough adjacent canons. 

" Captain Crawford, with Indian scouts, early on the morning of May 
15, surprised the village of Chatto, the chief who led the recent raid into 
Arizona and New Mexico. The fight lasted all day, and the village was 
wiped out. The damage done cannot be estimated. A number of dead 
bodies were found, but the indescribable roughness of the country pre- 
vented a count being made. The entire camp, with the stock and every- 
thing belonging to it, was captured. 

" It was learned from the prisoners taken that the Chiricahuas were 
unanimous for peace, and that they had already sent two messengers to 
try to reach San Carlos. On the 1 7th, they began to surrender. They said 
their people were much frightened by our sudden appearance in their 
fastnesses, and had scattered like quail. They asked me to remain until 
they could gather all their bands together, when they would go back to 
the reservation. By the terms of the treaty, my operations were limited 
to the time of the fight. I told the Chiricahuas to gather up their women 
and children without delay. They answered that they could not get them 
to respond to the signal, the fugitives fearing they might be sent by our 
Apache scouts to entrap them. They told us that they had a white boy 



SONORA AND THE APACHE COUNTRY. 



639 



TOPOGRAPHICAL MAP 

of Country traversed by the 
Command of 

£J$F z^r=- GENERAL GEORGE CROOK, 

In his Expedition against Chiricahua 
Indians, 

May 1st to June 10th, iS 

Compiled from field notes of First 
Lieut. G. J. Fiebeger, Corps of 
Engineers, A. A. D. C. 




fjsrir.iisif. 



who was in the village jumped by our scouts. He had run off with 
the squaws who escaped, and had not yet been heard from. They 



640 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

assured me every one of the band should come in if I would remain a 
short time ; but the terms of the treaty embarrassed me greatly, and 
being in that rough region, with rations rapidly disappearing, there being 
between three and four hundred Chiricahuas to feed, I was compelled to 
return. 

" We found six Mexican captives, — five women and one child, — taken 
in Chihuahua early in May. They are now with the command. These 
women say they were captured near the Mexican Central Railroad, at a 
place called Carmen. They further state that when the Chiricahuas dis- 
covered that the Apache scouts were in the country they became greatly 
alarmed, and abandoned on the trail the three hundred head of cattle 
they were driving away from points in Western Chihuahua. The cattle 
were afterward picked up and driven off by a body of Mexicans. 

" We marched back as rapidly as the condition of the stock and the 
strength of the women and children would permit. We found the coun- 
try depopulated for a distance of one hundred miles from the Apache 
stronghold. The Chiricahuas insist that they have always lived in the 
Sierra Madre, and that even when the main body went on the reservation 
some remained behind in the mountains. Of those who now go out, 
there are a number who state that they have never been on the reserva- 
tion. I have strong hopes of being able to clean the mountains of the 
last of these. 

" There are now with us Loco and Nana, who were so often reported 
killed, and the families of other prominent chiefs. I saw no Mexican 
troops, and after leaving the settlements in Northeast Sonora did not see 
a Mexican other than the captives rescued. 

"GEORGE CROOK, 
Brigadier- General Com?nanding." 

The enthusiasm of the Border country knew no bounds, as 
the travel-worn heroes emerged from the unknown region, and 
General Crook was hailed as the savior of the Southwest. A 
banquet was given him in Tucson, and the long-repressed feel- 
ings of the inhabitants found vent in adulatory addresses. Be- 
fore the enthusiasm had well cooled, ugly rumors began to creep 
out ; which it may seem ungenerous in me even to mention. His 
enemies claimed that he had not only committed a foolhardy 
thing, in going into the stronghold of the Apaches with a force 
of Indian scouts in full sympathy with them, outnumbering the 



SONORA AND THE APACHE COUNTRY. 641 

soldiers five to one, but that he was at the last outwitted and 
entrapped, and, instead of being the captor of the wily Indians, 
had himself been captured. Policy alone, they said, had dic- 
tated to the Indians the advisability of allowing him to return, 
without massacring his whole command; so they compelled 
him to take out to the reservation all their old and worthless 
squaws, — all the non-combatants, in fact, — and then, with loins 
girded for battle, and with only their most agile warriors and 
the youngest of their squaws, they started to make reprisals 
upon the hated Mexicans. 

This, in truth, would have been but consistent with the mis- 
taken policy hitherto pursued by our government: to treat the 
Indian like a spoiled child, to allow him to pillage and murder 
all summer, then to cajole him into returning to the reservation, 
where he might fatten upon his ill-gotten gains all winter, and 
thus recruit for another campaign of terror. The noble red 
man thereby holds our prowess in light esteem, as well he 
may ; for the spectacle of a nation of fifty million people quak- 
ing with dread over the anticipated depredations of less than 
three hundred Indians, is well calculated to inspire not only 
contempt but disgust. 

But there are always two sides to a story, and I think that 
the following statement, furnished me by the same officer who 
prepared the map, and to whom I am indebted for a graphic 
description of the Apache country and the terrible journey 
undertaken into it, is not only entitled to the fullest confidence, 
but will bear the test of the revelations of the future. 

" General Crook has been severely criticised by certain people 
because of their complete ignorance of the situation. First, the 
campaign is deemed a failure because it did not terminate in 
the utter extermination of the Chiricahua tribe of Indians. 
Secondly, his policy is condemned because he chose to accept 
the surrender of the Indians, instead of remaining in the moun- 
tains and continuing the pursuit. 

"In answer to the first objection, it may be stated that the 
object of the campaign, as explained to the Mexican officers and 
understood by the troops under his command, was to free the 

41 



642 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

people of Mexico and the United States from further outrages 
by these Indians. There were two methods of coming to this 
end. One was by means of a large command, capable of sub- 
division, which would move along with little attempt at con- 
cealment and forcibly drive the enemy before them out of their 
strongholds in succession, and eventually surround and destroy 
them. This would have required several thousand troops, and 
it would have taken at least a year to accomplish the result. In 
the mean time, the misery and suffering inflicted on the poor in- 
habitants of Sonora and Chihuahua would be almost incredible, 
were these savages compelled to leave their mountain retreats 
and subsist entirely on the country. 

"The other method was by means of a smaller body of picked 
material, capable of moving rapidly and quietly, and thus hav- 
ing the power of surprising and 'jumping' the savages, and 
yet strong enough to demoralize them by its superiority, and 
insure to itself success in any open engagement. 

" The first method was not to be thought of, for one reason if 
no other, that the Mexican authorities are jealous of their rights, 
and would never permit a foreign army to move upon its soil. 

" The other, although in many respects a superior method, 
could not be expected to annihilate the enemy, unless resort 
was made to treachery. The most that could be hoped was 
one decisive victory, which would cause a surrender; and then 
the management of the Indians after they were placed on a 
reservation would have to be relied on. This in simple terms 
was the plan of the campaign and its execution, in every par- 
ticular. The Chiricahuas are now on the San Carlos reserva- 
tion, far removed from their stronghold, surrounded by all the 
available forces of the United States army and a thousand faith- 
ful Indian allies. The future of these Chiricahuas, who will 
henceforth disappear from the view of the world, can be fairly 
estimated by that of the other Apache Indians. Little over five 
years ago, the whole Apache race was at war with the whites ; 
but six thousand of them were subdued b> General Crook, and 
placed on the San Carlos reservation, since which time there 
have been few outbreaks, and these of short duration. 



SONORA AND THE APACHE COUNTRY. 643 

" One point which has been omitted, and which the critics 
seem to dwell upon, is that no great battle was fought, and that 
none of Crook's command were killed. Had they read his re- 
port they would have seen that no such claim is advanced, but 
he modestly states that but nine Indians were killed ; although 
there is hardly a man of the command who is not convinced 
that this estimate is too small. Crook's detractors note only 
the slight decrease of the enemy's forces, but lose sight of the 
fact that hundreds of innocent people are saved from future out- 
rage, and an immense territory freed from raid and rapine." 

At the time of the surrender of the stronghold, General Crook 
was assured by the Apache chief that the remainder of his band 
would follow him into United States territory and give them- 
selves up, which the General confidently believed would be done. 
It was several months, however, before the recreant redskins 
made their appearance, having meanwhile secured, by means of 
bold and skilfully conducted raids, great herds of cattle and 
horses from Mexican haciendas. Then they hastened towards 
the reservation, where they could enjoy the protection of Uncle 
Samuel, and find a market for their stock. 

It is believed that the object of the daring expedition is ac- 
complished, and that, without bloodshed, General Crook has 
ousted the Apaches from the Sierras, and opened a new and 
virgin territory to the enterprise of the whites. Conjecturally, 
this region is stored with mineral treasure, and tradition points 
to numerous rich mines abandoned during two centuries of 
Apache depredations ; and hundreds of prospecters are waiting 
for the moment when it shall be declared rid of savages, to put 
the truth of these rumors to the test. 

It was late at night when I finally took horse again and de- 
parted from the Apache camp, with the weird music of Indian 
drums and the demoniac songs of the savages ringing in my 
ears. The night was cool and moonlit, such as compensates 
the dweller in this hot and arid region for his sufferings during 
the day, and the ride to Willcox, where we arrived at one in the 
morning, was quite enjoyable. With commendable enterprise, 
the keeper of the " Eureka House," desiring to satisfy the nat- 



644 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

ural craving of the " tender-foot " for a sight of relics of the 
campaign, had placed in his window " the skull and a rifle of 
an Indian chief," and some Chihuahua currency " taken from 
the dead body of a noted warrior on the battle-field." As the 
currency was some I myself had lent mine host, and as I was 
not conscious of having plundered any dead Indian, the tender- 
foot naturally looked upon the other " genuine relics " with 
suspicion. 

At noon, I took train for Sonora and the Gulf of California, 
through a waste and forsaken region, in which settlements are 
not stimulated by the local tariff of ten cents a mile for travel. 
The temperature along this route through Southern Arizona was 
about one hundred degrees, in such shade as it was possible to 
find. The general vegetation was cactus, the greatest types of 
which, the giant petayah, were most interesting. Benson is the 
first large and flourishing town west of Deming, from which it 
is one hundred and seventy-four miles distant. Only forty-six 
miles west lies the ancient Spanish settlement, now a flourishing 
city, of Tucson ; but this city I did not visit, as my course lay 
towards and into Mexico, bearing south from Benson instead of 
west, crossing the rich mineral region which has made Arizona 
famous, both in the distant past and in recent years, and has 
sustained its claim to the ancient appellation of Arezuma, Land 
of Gold. 

From Contention, on the line of the " New Mexico and Ari- 
zona," it is but ten miles to Tombstone, the banner town of 
Arizona, to which a stage runs on quick time. At Huachuca 
General Crook and staff left the train for the military post of 
that name, where their presence was needed for the final dis- 
position of the troops guarding the Border. They are, all of 
them, as modest and unassuming heroes as I ever had the good 
fortune to meet. Having just brought to a successful close one 
of the most intrepid and remarkable expeditions on record, they 
were now retiring to the obscurity of a remote frontier post, and 
turning their backs upon the honors the grateful people of 
Arizona were anxious to shower upon them. 

Calabasas is the name of the last station in United States 



SONORA AND THE APACHE COUNTRY. 



645 



territory through which we pass previous to entering Sonora. 
It was once an old hacienda, near which was a gold mine, but 
was often depopulated, through Apache raids, and knew not the 
blessings of peace until the advent of the railroad. This, indeed, 
may be said of this entire region, every presidio and village of 
which existed only upon sufferance, half in ruins, guarded by 
cowardly Mexican soldiers, who rarely ventured beyond the 
mud forts, and allowed the Apaches to murder and plunder 
with impunity. 




PORTALES OF ALAMOS. 1 

But not a village on the Border showed such sure evidences 
of settled peace as this quondam hacienda, on the night of our 
arrival. It was eight o'clock, and as we groped our way from 
the station to the hotel, where it was said a supper awaited us, 
darkness hid from our sight such a structure as we had not 
seen for days. We found a hotel there that reminded me of the 
edifice at Las Vegas, in New Mexico ; and on inquiry I learned 
that it had been built by the same shrewd and far-seeing men 



1 A fine town of Southern Sonora, which derives its name from its beautiful 
alameda, — alamos, poplars, — and which does considerable trade in silver. 



646 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

who guided the destinies of the great railroad, the Atchison, 
Topeka, and Santa Fe. And the supper ! The last meal like 
it we had been able to obtain only at Deming, and the one 
before that at Wallace ; and later on my trip I found that the 
great road aforementioned had built a line of magnificent hotels 
and dining-rooms, from the Missouri River — as far as its route 
extended — to the Mexican Border. " Eat like thunder," said 
an " old-timer," as we sat down to the table, " for you won't get 
another square meal till you get back here again ! " And we 
ate ; our Mexican friends — who, though strangers to good 
cooking, knew how to appreciate it — gorged themselves till 
their eyes stuck out like those of a shrimp, and the warning 
whistle bade them desist. Then I paid my dollar and departed, 
and in half an hour was over the line, again in Mexico, for the 
fourth time on this journey. 

We had come down the valley of the Santa Cruz River, 
where the bottom lands, covered with luxuriant grass, and the 
banks, fringed with gigantic cottonwoods, made it the most 
attractive of any I saw in all Arizona. How tempting this 
region must have seemed to those prospecters who penetrated 
Sonora before Arizona became ours by the Gadsden Purchase ! 
Seeing these delightful valleys, after their weeks of hardship on 
the arid plains above, they concluded that the whole great 
province was one equally desirable. But in this they were 
greatly mistaken. Speaking in general terms, Northern Sonora 
and Southern Arizona (at this point) are much more fertile than 
Northern Arizona and Southern Sonora. 

The frontier town of Sonora, where the railroad enters, is 
Nogales, simply a double row of slab shanties and mud huts, 
the former being American, the latter Mexican. The customs 
officials of both republics may be found here, who make a pre- 
tence of examining one's luggage. As soon as the Border is 
crossed, you are impressed with the difference between Ameri- 
can energy and Mexican thriftlessness. I was reminded of what 
an observant writer, Mr. Bartlett, once wrote of Tubac, which 
lies on the banks of the river of Santa Cruz : "In a book of 
travels in a strange country, one is expected to describe every 



SONORA AND THE APACHE COUNTRY. 647 

town he visits ; but as for this God-forsaken place, when I have 
said that it contains a few dilapidated buildings and an old 
church, with a miserable population, I have said about all." 

It was after midnight when we arrived at Magdalena, formerly 
a frontier town of much importance, but of which, as I only saw 
it by moonlight, I will borrow a description by J. Ross Browne, 
who made his mark upon this country twenty years ago : " The 
town is like all I have seen in Sonora, a parched-up confusion 
of adobe huts scattered over the slope of a barren hill, like so 
many mud boxes. The earth and houses are pretty much of the 
same material and color, while mesquit and petayah are the chief 
surrounding objects of interest and ornament in the way of vege- 
table life." But I remember that, going southward to Magdalena, 
we ran through fields and gardens, that we sorely missed be- 
yond, with large trees standing up invitingly draped in masses 
of tangled vines. 

A curious fraud has been recently unearthed here, regarding 
a reported discovery of ancient ruins, said to be but four leagues 
distant from Magdalena, and consisting of " a pyramid with a 
base of 1,850 feet, and a height of 750. On the walls of the 
gloomy rooms, cut out of solid stone, are numerous hiero- 
glyphics, and representations of human forms, the hands of 
which, strange to say, have five fingers and one thumb, while 
the feet have six toes," etc. 

Now, if these reports, frequently revived, ended with the 
papers that gave them birth, it would little matter; but, un- 
fortunately, they have obtained credence, and have even been 
copied into an unreliable book on the Border States, the editor 
of which was more desirous to obtain notoriety than solicitous 
for the reputation of his work, and whose proceeding cannot be 
too strongly reprehended. As these mythical ruins were located 
on the borders of the Apache country, where a traveller ran 
extreme risk of his life, it will be seen what a reckless disregard 
these unscrupulous men had for the lives of those who should 
be lured here by their malicious lies. I had intended visiting 
the locality myself, but was dissuaded therefrom by Captain 
Bourke, Aide-de-camp to General Crook, who assured me that 



648 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

he had been over the entire region, and that the whole story 
was a fabrication. There is indeed a curious natural formation 
there, worn into holes in which people may have lived, as no- 
mads, qr shepherds tending their flocks. 

The moon lighted up a country mainly sterile, and daylight 
did not reveal one more attractive; but at six we reached 
the Sonora River, and the scenery underwent a most magi- 
cal change. At seven we ran into the station at Hermosillo, 
the " beautiful town," and I took refuge and breakfast at the 
Hotel Cosmopolita, a one-story adobe, hard by the cemetery. 
This city, situated on the Sonora River, ninety miles from the 
Gulf of California, contains about 12,000 inhabitants. The soil 
of the highly cultivated valley of which it occupies the centre 
produces great crops of wheat, and its gardens are full of fruit in 
every variety, as oranges, melons, figs, lemons, plantains, dates, 
and pomegranates. Celebrated alike for its gardens and its 
lovely doncellas, Hermosillo has one other attraction that over- 
tops them all, in a peculiar conical hill, called El Cerro de la 
Campana, or " Hill of the Bell," from the sonorous quality of 
the rock composing it, which gives out a clear ringing sound 
when pieces of it are struck together. Great masses of cane 
line the river and the irrigation canals, the acequias, while a 
verdurous vegetation surrounds and interlaces the adobe dwell- 
ings of town and suburbs. It is the distributing centre for the 
productions of the agricultural country of Northern and Cen- 
tral Sonora, and it also has some mines of local repute in its 
vicinity. 

The climate is hot, though dry, the temperature exceeding 8o° 
and even ioo°, with little change throughout the year. The 
finest buildings of the State are found here, the principal ones 
being of stone, with the universal portales and arcades, seen 
in perfection in every Mexican town, a nice little plaza, and a 
half-wild park, and the population contains the flower of the 
Sonora aristocracy. In spite of the great heat, and the exceed- 
ingly filthy condition of the town, Hermosillo has generally es- 
caped the epidemic diseases that sometimes ravage the coast; 
but in September, 1883, the vomito, then raging at Guaymas, 



SONORA AND THE APACHE COUNTRY. 649 

leaped over the intervening waste of country and spread itself 
over this pleasant valley. 

- On the morning of June 20th, as I was about taking train for 
Guaymas, I found the station full of ladies and gentlemen, who 
had come to greet the " divine Peralta," the famous prima-donna 
of Mexico. Los Musicos, the musicians, were assembled in 
force, and the brightest and prettiest of sefioritas flitted gayly 
about, shielding their sweet faces and bright eyes from the too 
ardent rays of el sol with their fans, while the air was ringed and 
streaked with the smoke of a hundred cigarros. A sprightly 
Mexicano was circulating printed slips containing a soneto to the 
gifted singer, S'ra Angela Peralta de Castera, and everybody 
was on the tiptoe of expectation. 

To the great disappointment of the unsophisticated beauties 
of Hermosillo, Peralta did not arrive; and the episode I had 
witnessed would have faded away, had I not read, in a paper of 
three months later, that the " Nightingale of Mexico," with several 
members of her troupe, had died of yellow-fever at Mazatlan. 
Poor Peralta ! I doubt not that the gentle dames of Sonora 
are grieving over their sister's demise to this day; though they 
had cause to sorrow over their own ravaged households. I 
wonder if any of those graceful girls who regarded el Americano 
wonderingly through their grated windows, or if any of those 
airy young men who so politely did the honors of their city, 
have fallen victims to the plague. I hope not, though vague 
report leads me to fear that some were taken away. 

I remember with what gracious courtesy one of these lovely 
daughters of Hermosillo, an heiress in her own right to a beau- 
tiful estate and a deceased parent's horde of pesos, gave us per- 
mission to enter the patio of her dwelling, and with what evident 
pleasure she directed us to the blossoming gardens, where date 
palms and plantains mingled their leaves, and where the orange 
and fig trees were full of cooing doves and warbling songsters. 
The peace and delights of this place suggested that it might 
not be amiss to cast one's lines in it for good and all ; and we 
did not wonder that some of our countrymen had been made 
captives by the gentle Mexicanas, who are said to lend a willing 



650 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

ear to the wooing of the Gringo. The " dark-eyed sefiorita," 
especially in the Border States, is a very different being from the 
idealized creature of the painter and of the author who writes 
of the country before he visits it; yet there are some, to be met 
with at exceedingly long intervals, who are quite attractive. 
Real beauty few of them have, but nearly all are sweet-tempered 
and gentle-voiced, while sparkling eyes and milk-white teeth are 
theirs by right of birth. 

The only town of importance beyond Hermosillo is Guaymas, 
chief port of Sonora, ninety miles distant, on the Gulf of Cali- 
fornia. The railroad running thither is a splendid piece of 
work, but wasted on such an ungrateful region as lies between 
these two points, for in the dry season there is hardly a green 
thing in sight. Though the rains will start the verdure of vege- 
tation, they cannot change its character, and other than mes- 
quit and cactus there is little variety ; but of the latter there are. 
many species, nearly all in bloom, the dry stalks gaudy in yel- 
lows and reds. Small animals, like jack-rabbits, are numerous, 
and skip away awkwardly as the train goes by. 

Four miles distant from Guaymas a sea-breeze fans our 
cheeks, as the road crosses the blue waters of a broad lagoon, 
over a bridge and causeway five thousand feet in length, and 
then runs along attractive bays, and among cactus-covered hills. 
The fine station of the railroad is built on the neck of an isth- 
mus terminating in a rocky promontory, half a mile distant from 
the town. The company owns all the approaches to the town, 
all the eligible harbor and coast sites, and has run a spur of 
the road, a mile or so in length, to a headland, where it has 
built a wharf, in water deep enough to float the largest steam- 
ers. This is done in anticipation of the trade that is to spring 
up when, a Trans-Pacific line of steamers running to Australia 
and China, traffic and travel shall take this course across our 
continent. The port is one of the best on the Mexican coast, 
being securely land-locked, enclosed on every side by hills, and 
its shores are a succession of island-dotted bays. 

" Guaymas," says one of the numerous writers on Mexico, 
" is shut in from the Gulf, as well as from the winds, by high 



SONORA AND THE APACHE COUNTRY. 653 

rugged hills, entirely destitute of vegetation, and reflecting the 

rays of the sun until the place seems like a huge oven 

The country around Guaymas, for a semicircle of about one 
hundred miles, is a blasted, barren desert, entirely destitute 
of wood, water, or grass, producing only cacti and a stunted 
growth of mesquit. The water is all procured from wells, has a 
brackish, unpleasant taste, and generally causes temporary dis- 
eases with those unaccustomed to its use." 

Situated at a commanding point on the Gulf of California, 
Guaymas should control, with its unequalled connections with 
the United States, all the trade of the upper Gulf. One may 
voyage, even now, down the coast, to Mazatlan and Acapulco ; 
and over across the Gulf, almost within sight, is Lower Califor- 
nia, a fabled land of riches, but of hostile shores and desert 
interior. The vast Bay of Guaymas is ever alive with fish, and 
its oysters are reputed excellent ; but there are few fishermen, 
the principal purveyors for all the markets being Indians, from 
down the coast, Yaquis and Mayos, who are agriculturists, 
likewise, and so far advanced as to deny the white man a resi- 
dence within their towns. The Indians of Sonora are numer- 
ous and interesting; up the Gulf, on Tiburon Island, resides a 
curious family called the Ceres, which once was powerful and 
independent. 

A good tramway connects railroad station and town, where 
the buildings are mostly of adobe, and all of one story. Most 
painful to note is the total lack of green ; of gardens there are 
no visible tokens, save of one, over a hollow in the hills be- 
yond the town, where a thrifty German has established himself, 
and taken possession of a small grove of palms, watered by a 
stream fed from an artesian well. On the way there you pass 
the water-works of Guaymas, a deep well, at which a stalwart 
Indian presides and doles out the agna to the donkey boys from 
the city. 

If I have said there is not much here of interest, let me re- 
tract, in favor of these water-carriers of the town. They are 
going and coming all the day long, barefooted, barefaced little 
rascals, of Indian descent, who sit perched astride the burro's 



654 TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 

hips, and guide him without a bridle, or even a stick. Let their 
pictures speak for them. Across the burro's back is thrown a 
hide-sack of leather, a pouch of which on either side is filled 
with water, which is dispensed to customers through an aperture 
in the bottom, stopped up by a cow's horn, which fills it tightly, 
owing to the pressure from above. 

Notwithstanding the intense heat, and the fever season in 
prospective, the authorities of Guaymas permitted filth and 
garbage to stare one in the face at every turn. As might have 
been expected, the vomito came upon the town in August, and 
raged so fiercely that few of the living remained to care for the 
sick and dead. It was the first visitation in many years so fatal 
in its consequences ; and if the local officers accept the lesson, 
and use their endeavors to cleanse the place, there need not be 
such a recurrence of the evil. 

Charles Kingsley once called the port of St. Thomas a Dutch- 
oven of a place, and it is not far different in its surroundings 
from Guaymas, both being half surrounded by blistering hills ; 
but the former has an advantage in the free circulation of air. 
One hundred degrees is a temperature often reached in Guay- 
mas, while ninety-five is considered remarkably cool. During 
the two nights I dwelt there I nearly perspired myself away, 
though all the doors of the hotel were open from sunset to 
sunrise. Music and moonlight contributed to the enjoyment 
of evenings passed in the plaza, and after the musicos had de- 
parted it was interesting to watch the people pouring out of 
their adobe hives, and stretching their cots in the streets and on 
the sidewalks. Not alone men and boys, but girls and women, 
were taking up their beds and planting them outside the walls, 
where only they could get a breath of air not heated to the 
temperature of a sirocco blast. 

Guaymas, just previous to my arrival, had passed through a 
gold fever without a precedent in several years. Reports had 
come across the Gulf of the finding of placer gold, in the remote 
district of Mulege, in the great abundance that in Upper Cali- 
fornia astonished the world a century ago. People poured 
down from the mining regions of Arizona, drawn to this region 



SONORA AND THE APACHE COUNTRY. 657 

by the representations of some shopkeepers of Guaymas, who 
wished to reduce the goods in their overstocked stores. 

Mulege is situated southwest of Guaymas, across the Gulf, 
and could only be reached by sailing-vessels, which were over- 
crowded and poorly provisioned. Arrived on the eastern shore 
of Lower California, those who started for the mining region 
were obliged to cross a waterless desert, only to find the gold 
district a fraud and disappointment. Their sufferings, of which 
they had a foretaste on shipboard, were intense, from want and 
thirst, and nearly all returned to Sonora in rags and poverty. 

At no time has Lower California been the rich country that 
tradition makes it to be, although some of the first religious 
missions were established here, and have formed the nuclei 
for settlements which exist at the present day. Near Mulege 
itself, surrounded by desert and far remote from civilization, is 
a conventual structure that is most impressive in its ruin and 
decay. It stands there, abandoned to Indians and wild beasts, 
a type of the mission building of the distant past, when every 
church was also a fort, and every religious edifice a veritable 
castle. 

Gold and silver, pearls and precious stones, have been the 
alluring phantoms that have beckoned the fortune-hunter on 
to the Gulf of California for centuries past. Pearls, indeed, 
have been found here in great abundance. Fifty years ago, it 
is said, even the common people wore them ; but of late the 
fisheries have languished, as their seeking requires great endur- 
ance in the divers, and the efforts to introduce diving-bells have 
not met with success. 

It was here at Guaymas, on the shore of the great Gulf, whose 
unknown waters Were sailed by Cortes and his hardy crew three 
centuries and a half before, that I turned about for the United 
States, travelling northward and eastward, and finally reach- 
ing home after a roundabout journey of ten thousand miles by 
rail. 

In bringing my travels to so peaceful a conclusion I feel that 
I shall incur the displeasure of my reader, who will doubtless 
frown upon a book on Mexico without a robber or a bandit in 

42 



658 



TRAVELS IN MEXICO. 



it. Yet I have wandered in many places noted as the haunts 
of both, and it has not been altogether my own fault that I had 
no particularly exciting adventures, and did not shoot anything 
more harmful than a stump. With this, let me say farewell. 
Our journey is ended. Adios ! 




INDEX. 



Abogado Cristiano, 299. 

Aboriginal city, 170; mounds, 531. 

Academy of San Carlos, 324. 

Acambaro, town of, 435, 575. 

Acapulco trail, the, 407 ; port of, 408. 

Acequia (irrigating ditch), 626. 

Acojote (Aztec acocotl), water-throat, 344. 

Acolote (water-way), 336. 

Acordada, famous prison in city of Mex- 
ico. At various times the prisoners 
confined here have risen in revolt, or 
have been let loose upon the peaceful 
population of the city, as in 1828 ; and 
in 1847 again, when they were liberated 
at the entrance of the American army, 
inflicting more mischief and causing 
more terror and bloodshed than the 
invaders themselves. 

Adobe (ah-do'-bay), sun-baked bricks, of 
which walls and huts are made in Mex- 
• ico ; also a name of contempt ; Moor- 
ish-Spanish word; Arabic, al-toob ; 
ancient Egyptian, Adoub. 

Agave Americana, 220. 

Agua (water), of Mexico city, 359. 

Aguada (pond) of Uxmal, 78, 131. 

Aguador (water-carrier), 287, 288. 

Aguamiel (honey-water), 345, 346. 

Agua Nueva (village), 574. 

Aguardiente (burning water), 51. 

Agramont, English buccaneer, 185. 

Agricultural machinery, 505; methods, 

5 2 5- 
Ah Tza, sacred book, 95. 
Ahuitzotl, eighth king of Mexico. 
Ahuehuete (Aztec ahuehuetl), cypress, 

268. 
Air, rarefaction of, 248. 
Ajutla, town of, 534. 
Akabna, 91 ; arch of, 85. 



Ake, hacienda of, 88 ; katunes of, 89 ; gen- 
eral view of, 90. 

A la grecque, 536, 539. 

Alameda, the, 62, 236, 349. 

Alamo, Spanish for Poplar, whence alame- 
da ; famous fort at San Antonio, Texas. 

Alamos, town of Sonora, 645. 

Alcalde, el, 543, 550 ; a petty judge, from 
Arabic al cadi. 

Alerta (watch-word), 112. 

Algodon, cotton, (from an Arabic word,) 
indigenous to Mexico. 

Alley of the Holy Ghost, 231. 

Alligators in Cenotes, 116. 

Aloes, sometimes, though improperly, 
applied to the agave, A. Americana or 
Mexicana. The agave belongs to the 
order Amaryllidaceae, while the true 
aloe is of the order Liliaceas. Both 
are found in Mexico. 

Alvarado, leap of, 267. 

Amecameca, 373. 

American, colony, 354; hotel, 354; saint, 
first, 370 ; disappointed, 560 ; of the 
Border, 615. 

Americanizing Mexico, 616. 

Amigos (friends) 113. 

Amolli, or soap-plant, Sapindus (?), the 
fruit or seed of a plant belonging prob- 
ably to the Sapindacece, or Soap-berry 
family, an Indian substitute for soap, 
much used by the ancient Mexicans, 
and also at the present day by the 
poorer classes. In Mexico, the fruit of 
the Copalxocotl. 

Ampudia, General, 564. 

Anahuac, 220. 

Anales del Museo, 313. 

Ancona, historian of Yucatan, 76 ; his de- 
scription of Yucatan ruins, 109. 



66o 



INDEX. 



Angeles, Puebla de los, 501. 

Angostura, Pass of, 574. 

Animal life of Chihuahua, 605. 

Anquera, covering for horses' haunches. 

Antequera, 527. 

Anthony, Ex-Governor, 616. 

Antiquarian Society, 109. 

Antiquities, 305-309, 319, 323. 

Anuario, 299. 

Apache depredations, 606, 608 ; trail, 626; 
prisoners, 627 ; squaws, 628 ; scouts, 
visit to camp of, 631 ; warrior, 632; 
outrages, 634, 636; stronghold, 634, 
638 ; raid, last great, 636 ; difficulties 
in fighting the, 636, 637 ; region, map 
of, 638. 

Anton Lizardo, port, Gulf terminus of the 
Mexican Southern Railway, 181. 

Apam (plains of ), 345. 

Apartado, 451. 

Apizaco, 492. 

Aqueduct, of San Cosme, 359; the double, 
403; of Queretaro, 481. 

Arbol de las Manitos, 235 ; de la Noche 
Triste, 268 ; de Montezuma, 356. 

Arch, Maya, or aboriginal American, 77 ; 
of Akabna, 85. 

Archaeological field, 323. 

Archil {rocella), 137. 

Architecture, Mexican, 224. 

Arezuma, land of gold, 644. 

Arizona, travel in, 644. 

Armadillo (Aztec ayotochtli), or tortoise- 
rabbit. 

Arriero, a muleteer, 280. 

Arroyo, a mountain torrent. 

Arrastre, 462. 

Assumption (golden statue of the), 231. 

Astronomers, Maya, 97. 

Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Rail- 
road, 595, 601. 

Athens of Anahuac, the, 486. 

Atolli, an Indian beverage prepared from 
maize, in use among the ancient inhab- 
itants of Mexico and at the present day ; 
a kind of maize gruel, strengthening 
and refreshing, without which no Indian 
field laborer is content to work. 

Atoyac, Bridge of, 201. 

Avenue, the Grand, 349 ; of Bucarelli, 350. 

Axayacatl, sixth king (Indian) of Mexico, 
2 35 » a water insect, 339. 



Axes, of copper, 544. 

Axolotl (Siredon lichenoides), 340. 

Ayme, Consul, 45. 

Ayotla, town of, 339. 

Azcapozalco, 269. A town in the Federal 
District, connected with the city of Mex- 
ico by tramway. The ancient town of 
the same name was once the capital of 
the Tepanec " empire." 

Azotea (roof-top), 224. 

Aztecs, tribe of, in Oaxaca, 529. 

Aztlan, 605. 

Baile (ball), a native, 122. 

Bajio, el, region of the, 427. 

Ball, a Mestiza, 123. 

Balustrade, a valuable, 228. 

Banana plantation, 406. 

Bandelier, Prof., 541. 

Bandoleros, los, 336. 

Banner of Cortes, 308. 

Baptist Mission, 298. 

Baratillo, a rag fair. 

Barcena, Manuel, 313. 

Barbacoa, a native Haitian word, whence 

English barbecue. 
Barranca, of Metlac, 210 ; of Cuernavaca, 

402 ; of Regla, 463. 
Barras, las, 456. 
Bartlett, Mr., on Tubac, 647. 
Bassi rilievi, 410. 
Baths, of Mexico City, 354 ; inimical to 

the leperos. 
Batopilas Mining Co., 618 ; mines, 619. 
Bear, playing the, 287. 
Bees, stingless, 64. 
Beggars, Mexican, 282. 
Benson, town in Arizona, 644. 
Beneficiate, from a Latin- word, signifying 

" to realize " ; the separation of ores 

from their fluxes, or amalgams. 
Birds of Yucatan, 61. 
Bishop's Palace, 564. 
Bit, bridle, and spurs, 569. 
Bliss, Mr. P. C, iio. 
Boca del Monte, 217. 
Book, first, published in Mexico in 1536; 

stalls, 257. 
Bonanza, a sea term, used by Mexican 

miners to designate a mine being 

worked at a profit ; mines in, 448-450 ; 

of Pedro Torreros, 461. 



INDEX. 



66 1 



Bonito, Apache chief, 638. 

Bonos (shares) 456. 

Border States, the, 551 et seq. 

Borrasca (storm}, 393. 

Borrego, Mount, 214. 

Bota, La, 215. 

Bouquets, Mexican, 332. 

Bourke, Captain, 638, 648. 

Border, Mexican, 560, 580 ; ruffian, 599. 

Brasero (incense-burner), 144. 

Brickbats, cakes like unto, 339. 

Bridge-building, 560. 

Brocklehurst, Mr. T. U., 486. 

Browne, J. Ross, on Magdalena, 647. 

Buchanan, Mr., 416. 

Buen Retiro, 490. 

Buena Vista, hamlet and battle, 574. 

Bull-fight, 470, 518. 

Bull-ring of Puebla, 504; of Monterey, 

570. 
Burial at sea, 550. 

Burro, el, (the donkey,) 364, 368, 654. 
Bustamente, town, 561. 
Butler, Rev. Mr., 254, 299, 486. 

Caballero, equipment of the Mexican, 
545 5 en viage, 546. 

Cabinet woods, 524. 

Caboose, riding in a, 621. 

Cacahuamilpa, cavern, 413. 

Cacao {Theobro7na cacao), its uses, 39. 

Cacti, candelabrum, 517. Mexico belongs 
to the botanical region of cacti. 

Cadets, Mexican, 360. 

Cafetal, a, 209. 

Calabasas, station, 645. 

Calaboose, Americans in, 568; in pros- 
pect, 587. 

Caleza, 52, 56. 

Calendar, Mexican, 312. 

Calle (street) del Elefante, 86. 

Calzoneras, 280. 

Camino, de los Muertos, 484 ; Real, 88. 

Campeche, 156. 

Campo Santo, 570. 

Candelabrum cactus, 517. 

Cannibal Indians, 534. 

Cansahcab, village, 117. 

Cantaros (water-jars), 62. 

Canto, General, 117. 

Capote de Palma, 440. 

Capture of Cortes, 326. 



Caravan days, 581 ; trains, 582. 

Carbonera, hamlet, 520. 

Carcel (prison), 107. 

Cargadores (carriers), 132. 

Carlotta, Empress, in Yucatan, 88. 

Carmelite convent, 367. 

Carmen, island of, 156. 

Carnival in Yucatan, 50 et seq. 

Cart, Mexican, 582. 

Catherwood, Mr., 71. 

Causeways of Mexico, 238. 

Cave Period (Aztec MS.), 314. 

Casa (House), Municipal, of Merida, 33 
del Adivino, 66; de las Monjas, 66 
de la Viega, 67 ; de las Tortugas, 67 
Gobernador, 67, 78 ; de las Pajaros, 80 
de las Palomas, 67 ; de Piedras, Palen- 
que, 160; de Moneda (mint), 258: of 
Chihuahua, 617. 

Casas Grandes, valley of, 606 ; ruins of, 
607, 628. 

Castillo, el, 129 ; de Xochicalco, 409. 

Cathedral, of Merida, Yucatan, 29 ; great, 
of Mexico, description of interior, 228 ; 
view from tower of, 231 ; of Tula, 475 ; 
of Puebla, 500 ; of Monterey, 567 ; of 
Guadalajara, 621. 

Catorce, mines of, 574. 

Cattle, new market for, 586. 

Celaya, city, 575. 

Cemetery, in Yucatan, 130 ; neglect of the 
Mexican, 265 ; American, 267. 

Cenote (water-cave), 62 ; fish, 63; of Ake, 
92; of Motul, 115; of Tabi, 116; bird, 
116. 

Central Railway, concessions of, 420: 
length, and subsidy, 424; cities reached 
by, 426 ; advance of, 426, 433 ; track 
completed, 434; in Chihuahua, 601, 620. 

Centeotl, goddess of corn, 294. 

Ceres Indians, 653. 

Cerritos de la Pena, 520. 

Cerro (hill), 140; de las Campanas, 481 ; 
Colorado, 514 ; de la Campana, 649. 

Cerro Gordo, pass of, 189. 

Cerro Mercado, 624. 

Chaacmol, monolith discovered in Yuca- 
tan, 96, 108. 

Chachalaka, 132. 

Chaffee, Capt. A. R., 638. 

Chalc.o, lake of, 237, 241 ; town of, 338. 

Champotan, town of, 156. 



662 



INDEX. 



Chapala, largest lake in Mexico, estimated 
area 1350 sq. miles. 

Chaparral, a word derived from chaparra, 
a. holm-oak. 

Chaparreros, 54.6. 

Chapultepec, 355. 

Charney, Desire e, 1 10. 

Chan Santa Cruz, 43. 

Chato, Apache chief, 632. 

Chihuahua, the great frontier State, 601 
et seq. ; desert region of, 605 ; M-edanos 
of, 605 ; city of, 607-618 ; cathedral of, 
610, 611, 618; Mail (newspaper), 615. 

Chicharra (cicada), 406. 

Chichen, ruined city of, 95, 107 ; engrav- 
ings of, 99, 105. 

Chichimecs, 634. 

Chilenos, 465. 

Chili (Capsicum anmium), 45, 399. 

Chinampas, or floating gardens, 335. 

Chinguerito, Indian corn brandy. 

Chipi-chipi, 191. 

Chiquihuite, Bridge of, 203. 

Chiricahua Apaches, 634; haunts 0^634; 
pursued by General Crook, 639 ; on the 
reservation, 643. 

Cholula, pyramid of, 508-511 ; village of, 
510. 

Church, Mexican, its wealth, 499, 500; its 
present status, 291, 297. 

Church, of Santiago (Yucatan), 52; first 
in Mexico, 475 ; of Paso del Norte, 593 ; 
interior of, 597; of Chihuahua, 611, 618. 

Chupa-Mirta, myrtle-sucker, a humming- 
bird. 

Cinchona, 207. 

Cinta, la, 336. 

Citlaltepetl, volcano of, 177. 

City of Mexico, 231 ; general view of, 
231, 245; detailed description of, 232; 
causeways of the original, 238; the 
new, 354. 

City of the Angels, 501. 

City of the Pass, 566. 

Civilizing forces, 297. 

Climate of the valley of Mexico, 244. 

Clay heads, of Teotihuacan, 485 ; of Mitla, 

545- 
Coal, in the Rio Grande valley, 577. 

Coahuila, State of, 584. 
Coatlicue, Aztec deity, 294. 
Coatzcoalcos, province of, 156. 



Coca (Erythroxylon coca), 390. 

Cochineal, cactus and insect, 529. 

Cock-pit, Monterey, 573. 

Cocom, king of Mayapan, 95. 

Coco palm (Cocos nucifera), 186. 

Coffee, districts, 205; exports of, 209; 
berries, 524. 

Cofre de Perote, 193. 

Cogolludo, old historian, 102. 

Colear, to throw a bull over by the tail. 

Columbus, off coast of Yucatan, 39 ; mis- 
take of, 40; statue of, 351. 

Compadre, comadre ; French, complre, 
commire. 

Compahero, a, 389. 

Comparison of ruined cities, 75. 

Concessions, list of, granted to Mexican 
railways, 419, 420. 

Conchos River, 624. 

Conducta, a, 281, 576. 

Congregationalist Missions, 298. 

Conquistadores (conquerors), 224; en- 
trance of, into Mexico, 227. 

Convent of Tlascala, 493. 

Copan, ruins of, 75; statue from, 169. 

Copper "axes," two types of, 544- 

Corallitos, 628. 

Cordova, town of, 302. 

Cordova, H. de, discovers Mexico, 40. 

Cornish miners, 448. 

Correo (mail-coach), 151. 

Corrida de Toros (bull-fight), 151, 470. 

Corridor of hacienda, 65. 

Cortes, capture of, 326 ; statue of, 350 ; 
trail of army of, 386; letters of, 386, 387. 

Cotoche, Cape, 143. 

Cotton culture, 486. 

Cow, the Mexican-, 384. 

Coyote, (Aztec coyotl,) a jackal. 

Cozumel, island of, 142, 143. 

Crawford, Captain of Apache scouts, 631. 

Creoles, number of, customs, etc., 272- 
279. 

Criollos (Creoles), type of, 277. 

Crook, General, arrives on frontier, 629 ; 
interview with, 630; as an Indian 
fighter, 637 ; hazardous expedition of, 
637 ; defence of campaign of, 641. 
Cross, the black, 498, 513, 380. 
Cruz del Marques, 400 
Crypts of Xochicalco, 411. 
Cuautla, town of, 442. 



INDEX. 



66 3 



Cuautitlan, town of, 470. 

Cubas, Sefior A. G., 272, 414, 484. 

Cuernavaca, 400; vale of, 405. 

Cuidado (beware), 381. 

Cuilapan, town of, 529. 

Cuisine, economy of the Mexican, 44. 

Cusihuiriachic, mining district of, 619. 

Customs, table, 134; duties, 182 ; officials, 

polite, 182. 
Customs of the Border Mexican, 614. 
Cypress, of Noche Triste, 268 ; of Chapul- 

tepec, 355. 

Dance, the Mestiza, 122. 

Dancing against one's will, 123. 

Death scene, a, 124. 

Depopulated towns, 634. 

Denounce, to, "in the mining code of 
Mexico, implies that process by which 
a legal right of possession is obtained 
to a particular portion of a vein, worked 
or unworked, known or unknown, which 
a miner chooses to select." 

Desagiie (drain) of Huehuetoca, 242. 

Desierto, el, 363 ; convent of, 367 ; bridge 
at, 368. 

Devil, the, 291. 

Diaz, Bernal, a native of Medina del 
Campo in Old Castile, came to the New 
World in 1 514 : historian of the con- 
quest, 40; quoted from, 185, 23S. 

Diaz, General Porfirio, Ex- President, fight 
of, with the French, 516. 

Diaz de Solis, Juan, 40. 

Diego, Juan, and his apparition, 369. 

Diligence, Journey in a, 396 et seq. ; the 
Mexican, 396; south from Monterey, 

572- 
Disaster, a, 147. 
Diviner's House, 80. 
Dolores Hidalgo, 575. 
Dominguillo, village of, 518. 
Doncellas, of Jalapa, 191 ; of Hermosillo, 

650. 
Donkey boys of Guaymas, 655. 
Don Domingo, 375. 
Doniphan, Col., 608. 
Dragoon Summit, 629. 
Drainage of Valley of Mexico, 242, 243; 

schemes for, 243. 
Dumb dog, the, 320. 
Durango, State of, 432. 



Dutch oven of a place, 654. 
Dwellings, of the Dead (Mitla), 535; of 
the different zones, 213. 

Eagle Pass, 580, 591. 

Eaton, Rev. J. D., 617. 

Egyptian resemblances, 98, 102. 

Ejutla, valley of, 511, 523. 

Electric Light, the, 355. 

" Elephant Trunks," at Uxmal, 79. 

El Paso, city, 595 ; valley, 596. 

Embarcaderos, 136. 

Embrace, a Mexican, 289. 

Empefios, Los, 283. 

Encinillas, station of, 607. 

Engineer, the ubiquitous, 188. 

English language, a town in which it had 

never been spoken, 120 ; newspapers 

in, 304. 
Escandon, Sefior, 416. 
Esperanza, station of, 217 ; long ride to, 

547- 
Estrella de la Mar, 177. 
Estrella, Cerro de la, 336. 
Etla, valley of, 520. 
Europeans, in Mexico, 272. 
Evans, Captain, 309. 

Fairlie engine, the, 217. 

Farmer, a Mexican, 407. 

Farming in Chihuahua, 625. 

Feasts and Festivals, 291 et seq.; of the 

Aztecs, 295; of the Church, 295. 
Feather work, Aztec, 321. 
Felipe, Don, and his cow, 348 ; a medico, 

370- 
Ferrocarril Mexicana, 218. 
Ferrocarriles Mexicanos, los, 419. 
Fiebeger, Lieut. G. J., 628 ; replies to 

Crook's detractors, 640. 
Fiesta, a, 51S. 
Figures in wax, 322, 326. 
Filigree work, silver, 321. 
Fire, the new, 337. 
Floating Gardens, 332-336. 
Florida coast, off the, 550. 
Florida River, 624, 625. 
Flores, Padre, 467. 
Flores, town of, 168. 
Flower market, the, 331. 
Flowers, where they come from, 332. 
Font, ancient, in Tlascala, 494, 495. 



664 



INDEX. 



Fop, the Mexican, 252. 
Forests of Popocatapetl, 379. 
Fraud exposed, 648. 
French, battle with the, 502. 
Fresh-water springs in the ocean, 141. 
Frijoles (beans), use of, 45. 
From Coast to Capital, 194 et seq. 
Frontera, port of, 173. 
Fruit-seller of Yucatan, 150. 
Fruits of three zones, 213, 524. 
Funeral cars, 265. 

Gachupin, (Aztec cac-chopina, or prickly 
shoes,) applied to the Spaniards, from 
their wearing spurs. 

Gadsden Purchase, that part of Arizona 
and New Mexico south of the river Gila, 
obtained for the United States from 
Mexico for $10,000,000, December 30, 
1853; area of purchase, 45,535 square 
miles. 

Gallejo, station of, 606. 

Gardens, floating, 332-336; of Laborde, 
404; of Maximilian, 414; ideal, 487. 

Garita, a, 47. 

Garrapatas (ticks), 64, 150. 

Gatewood, Lieut., 631. 

Gaumer, Prof. G, 116. 

Gage, Thomas, 339, 363 ; describes Popo- 
catapetl, 391. 

Galleon, the Acapulco, 408. 

Galveston, Harrisburg, and San Antonio 
Railroad, 578. 

Gambling centre, a, 360. 

Garfield, news of death of, received in 
Mexico, 505. 

Gente de razon, 275, 389. 

Geographical position of Mexico City, 244. 

Glyphs of Palenque, 163. 

Gnomon mound, 96. 

God, of storms, 375 ; of the air, 481. 

Gods and goddesses of Mexico, 293 ; 
Aztec, 294, 308. 

Gold and silver, works of, 321. 

Golden throne, the buried, 520. 

Gondola, the Mexican, 333. 

Gonzalez, President, 304. 

Good Friday, festival of, 292. 

Gould System of Railways, 559. 

Governor's Palace, Oaxaca, 521. 

" Greaser," protest of the, 586. 

Grapes of Paso del Norte, 599. 



Grass-seller, the, 87. 

Grijalva, Juan de, voyage of, 358. 

Guadalajara, cathedral of, 525. 

Guadalupe, Virgin of, 369 ; chapel of, 369. 

Guanajuato, city of, 437. 

Guatemotzin, eleventh and last Aztec 
king, bust of, 334; statue of, 350. 

Guatemotzin mine, 454. 

Guaxaca (Oaxaca), 523. 

Guide, Indian, 147. 

Guendolain, estate of, 518. 

Grant, General, Lieutenant in Mexican 
war, 396 ; visits Mexico, 528 ; prevision 
of, 616. 

Grecque (ornamentation), 536, 539. 

Greenwood, Colonel, murder of, 268. 

Grand Turkey Hunt, a, 112 et seq. 

Gulf Stream, crossing the, 550. 

Gringo (as applied to a language, unintel- 
ligible, gibberish), 649. 

Gulf of California, 657. 

Guaymas, port of, 650; view of, 651 ; fine 
harbor of, 653; commanding situation 
of, 653 ; great heat of, 654. 

Hacendado (hacienda owner), 61. 

Hacer el oso, 287. 

Hacienda, of Ake, 88 ; of Santa Anna, i87; 
explanation of term, 459 ; of Regla, 459 ; 
of San Miguel, 465 ; of Huehuetoca, 
470 ; the typical, 507 ; of Saga, 541 ; of 
Jaral, 575; of Don Enrique Miiller, 
623; vast, of Chihuahua, 625. 

Haiti, or Hispaniola, 39. 

Hammocks, the land of, 85. 

Hand-flower, the, 236. 

Handiwork, Mexican, 329. 

Harte, Bret, 408. 

Havana, return to, 549. 

Head, gigantic, of Izamal, 103. 

Hedges of cactus, 516. . 

Hell, the Little, 215. 

Henequen (Sisal hemp), 28, 82 et seq.; 
exports of, 84; wild, 139. 

Hermanas (sisters), 401. 

Hermanos (brothers), 401. 

Hermosillo, city of, 648 ; climate of, 649 ; 
senoritas of, 650. 

Herrera, quotations from, 40, 128. 

Hidalgo, patriot, where executed, 617. 

Hieroglyphs of Uxmal, 71 ; of Mayapan, 
97 ; of Palenque, 160 ; of Mitla, 538. 



INDEX. 



665 



Highway, old, into Mexico, 581. 

Hispano-English, 124. 

Hill, of the Star, 337 ; that Smokes, 375 ; 
of Flowers, 408 ; of Bells, 549. 

Holidays, Mexican, 296. 

Honduras, Gulf of, 40. 

Honey, fragrant, 64. 

Honesty of the Yucatecos, 155. 

Hooper, the typical speculator, 250. 

Horseback, a trip on, 515; a long ride 
on, 546. 

Horse-cars, 265 ; of Puebla, 507. 

Horses of Cortes, first in Mexico, 158. 

Hotel, Iturbide, 253 ; American, 353 ; 
portal, 579; last, in Arizona, 646. 

Hotel car, across Texas in a, 554. 

House, of the Prophet, 67 ; of the Gov- 
ernor, 67 ; of the Nuns, 67 ; of the 
Pigeons, 67 ; of the Old Woman, 67 ; 
of the Dwarf, 67; of the Turtles, 68. 

Huachuca, 644. 

Huamantla, 219. 

Huehuetoca, great canal of, 242 ; hacienda 
of, 470. 

Huejuquilla, town, 626. 

Huitzilopochtli, 306, 314, 331. 

Huitzo, town of, 520 ; dialect spoken in, 

5 2 3- 
Humboldt in Mexico, 257 ; on Popocata- 

petl, 392. 
Huntington, C. P., 578. 

Idols, clay, at Mitla, 541 ; Central Ameri- 
can, 600. 

Immigrants, chances for, 525. 

Incense, 145; burner, 146. 

Infernillo, El, 215. 

Indians, when first seen, 39 ; of Yucatan, 
43 ; indifference to death, 124; number 
of, 272 ; description of some, 273-276 ; 
agricultural, not warlike, 530; of Oaxa- 
ca, 532 ; carriers, 400 ; of Chihuahua, 
626 ; of Sonora, 657. 

Inquisition, palace of the, 261. 

Intellectual growth of Mexico, 529. 

Intervention, the French, 185. 

Inundation of Mexico City, 241. 

International Railway, 426, 580, 584; 
bridge over Rio Grande, 584. 

International and Great Northern Rail- 
way, 577. 

Interoceanic Railway, 421. 



Institute of San Carlos, 329; of Oaxaca, 

528. 
Invasion, the North American, 566. 
Irrigation, benefits of, 599. 
Isla Sacrificios, 174. 
Iturbide, Hotel, 253. 
Itzaes, people of Yucatan, 95. 
Itzamal, town of, 102. 
Itzamna, Itza hero, 102. 
Itzli, or obsidian, 383. 
Ixtle, the fibre of a species of agave with 

smaller leaves than that yielding pulque. 
Ixtlilxochitl, learned Indian writer ; a 

prince of Tezcoco. 
Iztaccihuatl, volcano of, 373. 
Iztapalapa, 238. 

Jail, a Mexican, 627. 

Jalap, 193. 

Jalapa, 186; gardens, 190; doncellas, 191. 

Jalapenas, las, 191. 

Jaral, hacienda of, 575. 

Jefe politico, a, 121. 

Jorullo, volcano of, 372. 

Joy of the Water, 214. 

Joya, La, valley of, 215. 

Juarez, Benito, tomb of, 263. 

Judas, effigies of, 292. 

Justice, tardy, 568. 

Kabah, ruins of, 72, no. 

Katunes, or calendar stones, 89; columns 

of the, 92. 
Kermes (scarlet grain ), 529. 
Kickapoos, 588. 
Kingdom of Nuevo Leon, 562. 
King's fifth (of silver), 450. 
Kukulkan, 10 1. 

La Bord, gardens of, 404. 

Laborers, wages of, 473. 

Labna, ruins of, 72. 

Las Casas, Bishop of Chiapas, 325. 

Ladrones, 576. 

Laguna country, 584. 

La Encantada, 574. 

La Joya, valley of, 215. 

La Mitra, 562. 

La Viga, canal of, 333. 

Lamp, golden, 503. 

Lampasos, 561. 

Land, how held, 506, 525. 



666 



INDEX. 



Landa's "Relation," 102. 

Laredo, Presidio of, 555; town of, 556; 

climate of, 559. 
La Silla, 562. 
Legend, an Indian, 66. 
Leperos, Mexican beggars, 285. 
Le Plongeon, Doctor, 77, 108. 
Lerma, valley of, 446. 
Levels, relative, of lakes and Mexico City, 

241. 
Libraries, 257, 303; of Puebla, 504. 
Licor del pais, 518, 587. 
Lioba (Mitla), 535. 
Lisa, a kind of fish, 141. 
Literature, Mexican, 303; religious, 301. 
Llanos (plains), 195. 
Loco, Apache chief, 632. 
Logwood forests, in the, 126, 136. 
Lorencillo, the pirate, 185. 
Lorillard City, 171. 
Los Americanos, 615. 
Los Reyes, mine of, 467. 
Lovemaking, Mexican, 287. 
Lower California, 657. 

Mackay, Lieutenant, 638. 

Madre Pulque, 344. 

Magdalena, Sonora, 647. 

Magistral, mixture of copper pyrites and 
sulphuret of iron, roasted in a reverba- 
tory furnace. 

Maguey, 341, 342, 343- 

Maize, indigenous to Mexico. 

Malacate, 371. 

Maltrata, vale of, 216. 

Mariana (to-morrow), 139, 309. 

Mangroves, 141. 

Manga de Agua, 545. 

Manuscript, Aztec, 313, 316. 

Manzana (a sq. measure), 223. 

Manzanillo, port of, 441. 

Map, general colored, 21; of Mexican 
Missions, 300; of Railways, 417; of- 
Mexico, 424; of Puebla and vicinity, 
503 ; of Apache country, 639. 

Mapilca, ruins of, 191. 

Maravatio City, 441, 576. 

Marble, Mexican, 504. 

Marco, a, 457. 

Markets of Mexico City, 327-330; ancient 
Aztec, 327 ; of Puebla, 504 ; of Oaxaca, 
526. 



Marina, mistress of Cortes, 158. 

Marimba, primitive piano, in use amongst 
Indians of Southern Mexico, also in 
Africa. 

Marinero (a bird), 139. 

" Marquis of the Valley," the, 398, 527. 

Martinez, Enrique, celebrated Mexican 
engineer, 241. 

" Massacre in the Temple," 325. 

Mastic (pistacia), 136. 

Maverick, The, (newspaper,) 580. 

Maximilian, 356. 

Mayapan, 97-112. 

Mayas, nation of, 53, 55 ; a cultured race, 
92 ; genesis of the, 94 ; language of, 102. 

Mayoral, el, 149. 

Mayos, Indians, 653. 

McComas, Judge, murdered, 630; his son 
Charley, 630. 

McManus & Co., 618. 

Mecate (land measure), 82. 

Medanos, of Vera Cruz, 174; of Chihua- 
hua, 605. 

Medico (doctor), a, 149, 376. 

Medino, famous Mexican miner, 447. 

Medio (half a real). 

Merida, capital of Yucatan, 31 et seq. ; 
markets of, 46 ; city gates of, 47 ; in- 
habitants of, 49. 

Mesa, the, of Sefior Milmo, 561. 

Mescal (native rum), 346. 

Meson (hostelry), 364. 

Mesquit (Aztec Mezquitl). 

Mestiza, Mestizo, definition of term, 43 ; 
ball, 118; costume, 119, 123. 

Mestizos, as operatives, 84; number of, 
in Mexico, 272; origin of, 279; morals 
of, 281. 

Metallic mush, 449. 

Metatl, Indian corn mill. 

Meteorological Observatory, 235. 

Methodist Missions, 298, 301. 

Metlac, barranca of, 210. 

Mexicalcingo, 336. 

Mexican, a chapter on the, 271-290 ; finan- 
cier, the, 304; paintings, 324, 326; 
spurs, 592 ; the conservative, 614. 

Mexican Railway, 421-424; map of, 424. 

Mexican Southern Railroad, 559. 

Mexico, birdseye view of, 194 ; transcon- 
tinental profile of, 195 

Michoacan, coffee of, 209. 



INDEX. 



667 



Mictlan, the Mexican hades. 

Mictlancihuatl, goddess of hell. 

Mictlanteuctli, Aztec god of hell. 

Milk, how sold, 348. 

Milkman, depravity of the, 348. 

Milpa (field), 149. 

Mimbre, beautiful shrub of North Mexico. 

Minerals of Coahuila, 585. 

Miners, Mexican, 453 ; murderous, 468. 

Mineria, or School of Mines, 252. 

Mines of Mexico, 446 et seq. : of Pachuca, 
466 ; richest of Mexico, 467 ; recent 
development of, 467 ; of Guanajuato, 
467 ; of Sonora, 467 ; of Zacatecas, 467. 
Mining Laws, 455 ; Regions, 458. 
Mint, coinage of the, 258. 
Miraflores, factory of, 84. 
Misantla, ruins of, 191. 
Missionaries, 301 ; murder of, 303 ; shot 

at, 486. 
Mission period, 554. 
Missions of Mexico, 298 ; map of, 300. 
Missouri Pacific Railroad, 518. 
Mitla, Zapotec burial-place, 531-542; 
ruins of, 536 ; grand hall of, 532 ; mono- 
liths, 535; mosaic, 536; sculptures, 539. 
Mixcoatl, goddess of hunting, 295. 
Mixe Indians, 534. 
Miztecs, nation of, 520, 529. 
Molino del Rey, 360. 
Momotus, species of, 116. 
Monclova, 584. 

Money, first coinage of, in Mexico, 342. 
Monks, Mexican, 366. 
Monoliths of Mitla, 535. 
Montana de los Organos, 447. 
Monte, Mexican cards, 633. 
Monte Alban, 529. 
Montejo, Francisco de, 41. 
Monte Piedad, 251. 
Monterey, plain of, 562 ; city of, 564; fight 

at, 564 ; as a health resort, 565. 
Montezuma, fights the Chalchese, 338; 
his tree, 356; his harem, 357; his bath, 
359 ; armies of, in Oaxaca, 529 ; " Chair 
of," 606. 
Monton, a, 457. 
Morelet, M. Arthur, 170. 
Morelia City, 441. 
Morgan, Hon. Mr., 396. 
Mother of the gods, 295. 
Motul, town of, 115; cenote of, 115. 



Mound, the nameless, 80 ; Gnomon, 96 ; 

of Oilam, 128. 
Mozo (servant), 464. 
Mucuyche, hacienda of, 63. 
Mujer Blanca, La, 374. 
Mujeres, Isla de, 143. 
Mule teams, 620. 
Mulege, gold district of, 654, 657. 
Miiller, Don Enrique, 608; hacienda of, 

621. 
Mural paintings, 107. 
Murder, a brutal, 568. 
Murderers in the army, 570. 
Museo, Nacional, 305. 
Museums, Mexican, 305, 310. 
Musician, a strolling, 468. 
Musicos, los, (musicians,) 122. 
Mysterious city, 167-170. 
Muy temprano, 130. 

Nameless mound, 80. 

Nana, an Apache, 632. 

Narrow-gauge railways, 441, 514. 

National Railway, 421 ; length and sub- 
sidy, 434; cities on the line, 435; com- 
pleted track, 441, 560. 

Naturalist, respect for a, 512. 

Navajas, Cerro de las, 465. 

Neutli (pulque), 341. 

Newspapers of the Republic, 303. 

New York to St. Louis, 553. 

Nieve (snow), 382. 

Night, in camp, 135 ; in a forest, 380. 

Nezahualcoyotl, Prince of Tezcoco, 489 ; 
palace of, 490. 

Noche triste, tree of, 268. 

Nochistongo, canal of, 242. 

Nogales, frontier town, 649. 

No hay, 364. 

Nomadic period (Aztec MS.), 316. 

Nopal, 529. 

Norman, Mr., 67, 107. 

Norther, a, 548. 

North American invasion, 586. 

Nuestra Senora, 270. 

Oaxaca, journey to, 515-523; valley of, 
525 ; resources of, 524, 527 ; market- 
place of, 526. 

Obsidian (Aztec itztli), 318 ; mines of, 464. 

Ocellated turkey, 112, 150. 

Ocotl, resinous pine used for torches. 

Octli, 341. 



668 



INDEX. 



Ojos de Agua, 466. 

011a, a boiling-pot. 

Omecihuatl, 319. 

Ometeuctli, 319. 

On the way to market (view), 399. 

Onyx, Mexican, 503. 

Opals, richest district of, in Queretaro. 

Opuntia, 529. 

Oracion, 64. 

Oranges, mule-loads of, 534. 

Ord, General, 181. 

Organ Mountains, 447. 

Organo cactus, 517, 529. 

Oriental Railway, 421, 559. 

Orizaba, volcano of, 177; town, 214; 

peak and crater, 218 ; height of, 371. 
Ornaments, Apache, 633. 
Otomi language, 418. 
Otumba, town, 220. 
Outrages, Apache, 634. 
Ozumba, view from, 443. 

Pachuca, mines of, 450; city of, 447. 

Paintings, in the Academy, 324 ; at Kabah, 
no; of Puebla, 504; ancient, in Tlas- 
cala, 492. 

Painted caves, 591. 

Pajaros preciosos, 132. 

Palaces, of Mexico, 235; of Cortes, 405; 
of Mitla, the wonderful, 531 et seq. 

Palenque and the Phantom City 155 et 
seq.; plan of, 157; first mention of, 
159; restored, 160; tablet, 163; sculp- 
tured fragment from, 411. 

Palisades of Regla, 459. 

Palmer-Sullivan concession, 434. 

Palms of the coast, 196. 

Palo Blanco, 561. 

Palo tinto, 136. 

Panteon of S. Fernando, 263. 

Papantla, pyramid of, 192. 

Papantzin, 341. 

Paredones, 541. 

Parian of Monterey, 571. 

Parque de Ysabel, 549. 

Parra, Felix, 325. 

Paseo (walk, drive), 334. 

Paseo Grande, 349 ; de la Reforma, 349. 

Paso del Norte, 596 ; old church of, 593. 

Paso del Macho, 201. 

Patio (court), in Yucatan, 55 ; in Mexico, 
224; system of reducing ore, 462. 



Patterson, Rev. Mr., 401. 

Patzcuaro, 441. 

Pavo del Monte, 137. 

Pawning an organ, 284. 

Pawnshops, 252. 

Paxi, 340. 

Pay train, a, 440. 

Pearls of Gulf of California, 657. 

Pecos and Rio Grande Railway, 577. 

Pecos River, 591. 

Pedregal, 453 ; fight of the, 454. 

Peflas Cargadas, 457. 

Penates, Mexican, 319. 

Peon, Don Alvaro, 88. 

Peon, the faithful, 381. 

Peralta, Angela, death of, 649. 

Perez, Don Juan, 98. 

Perote, Cofre de, 193. 

PerrO mndo, el, 320. 

Petate, 394. 

Peten, forests of, 168. 

Petahaya, or Petaya, a giant cactus, 644. 

Picture-writing, Aztec, 316. 

Pinzon, Spanish navigator, 40. 

Pic (Maya word), 118. 

Pickpockets, Mexican, 247. 

Pico del Fraile, 375. 

Piedras Negras, 581. 

Pierce, Col. T. N., 578. 

Pillar of Death, 537. 

Pines, limit of, 378, 385. 

Pita (thread), 342. 

Plateau, ascending the, 215 ; on the, 220. 

Plaza, of Vera Cruz, 178 ; Grande, of Mex- 
ico City, 349; horizontal, 392; and La 
Mitra, the, 563 ; of Zaragoza, 570. 

Plazuela of Paso del Norte, 599. 

Pleasant travelling, 578. 

Plough, a Mexican, 506 ; treatment of an 
American, 507. 

Plumaje, 321. 

Plumed Serpent, the, Quetzalcoatl, or 
Kukulcan, 481, 508. 

Plunder, Apache, 633. 

Pobrecito, 130. 

Popocatapetl, 371 et seq.; view of, 377; 
ascent of, 375-390; peak of (views), 384, 
393 ; cone of, 389 ; snow-line of, 385 ; 
Mexico Valley from, 387 ; crater of 
(view), 392 ; height of, 394. 

Policy, Indian, of Mexico, 627 ; of the 
United States, 628, 633. 



INDEX. 



669 



Polite offer, 148. 

Popotla, 269. 

Population of Mexico, 272. 

Polvo (dust), 446. 

Port of San Bias (view), 428. 

Portales (arcades), 236, 502, 528. 

Portero, el, 224. 

Porto Rico, allusion to, 320. 

Pottery, Mexican, 27 1 ; of Guadalajara, 

620. 
Prairie Schooner, 592. 
Presidio del Norte, 592. 
Presbyterian Missions, 298. 
Prices of provisions, etc., 505. 
Progreso, port of, 25, 549 ; and Merida 

railway, 27. 
Progress of Mexico, 302. 
Proletarians, 283. 
Pronunciamientos, 546. 
Protestantism in Mexico, 254, 298, 302. 
Proyecta de Guerra, 627. 
Publications in Mexico, 303. 
Puebla, city of, 498, 508; valley (view of), 

501 ; map of, and vicinity, 503. 
Pueblos, 601, 602. 
Puente Nacional, 187. 
Puerta de Oilam, 148. 
Pulpit, first, in America, 493. 
Pulque, a drink, discovery of, 340 ; plant 

producing it, 341 ; how made, 343 ; 

taste and qualities, 346; analysis of, 

347 ; the poet on, 347. 
Puntas Arenas, 142. 
Putnam, Prof. F. W., 544. 
Pyramid at Uxmal, 67 ; of Mayapan, 102 ; 

of Papantla, 192; of Xochicalco, 410; 

of Teotihuacan, 481 ; of the Sun, 482 ; of 

the Moon, 483 ; of Cholula, 508-510. 

Quarrel in camp, 135. 
Queretaro, city of, 479, 481. 
Quetzalcoatl, 218, 481 ; image of, 508. 
Quiche, Cura of, 169. 

Rag figures, 322. 

Railway Movement, 416 et seq. 

Railroads, Mexican, 198 et seq. ; first in- 
ception, 415 ; at the Capital (map), 417 ; 
concessions, etc., 417 ; principal Mexi- 
can, 420; Mexican Oriental, 421, 559; 
the Mexican (map), 424 ; Central, 
424-434 ; National, 434-441 ; Mexican 



method of constructing, 443 ; system of 
Mexico, 445; Mexican Southern, 515; 
International, 580. 

Rainy season, 247. 

Ramble around the City, 244 et seq. 

Ramon (forage), 87; seller (picture), 115. 

Rancho (camp or farm), 133. 

Rancheros, 281, 583. 

Rankin, Miss, 298. 

Rarefaction of the air, 248. 

Rau, Professor, 164. 

Raza Indigena, 41, 42. 

Real (plural reales), coin, value 12^ cts. 

Real del Monte mines, 450, 457. 

Rebozo, un, 280. 

Refresco, Yucateco, 131. 

Regla, smelting establishment of, 459; 
palisades of, 460 ; Count of, 461 ; Bar- 
ranca of, 463. 

Republics, The Two, (newspaper,) 304. 

Respiradores, 391. 

Revista Cientifica, 342. 

Rickarts, Senor, 527. 

Riley, Rev. H. C, 299. 

Ring, a stone, 478. 

Rio Bravo, 595. 

Rio Escondido, 588. 

Rio Grande, 555, 559, 596; over the, 580 ; 
valley of, 577 et seq. 

Rio Hondo, 439. 

Rio Lagartos, 147. 

Robbers, never seen by police, 219 ; incon- 
siderate, 223 ; murderous, 380. 

Romero, Senor, 527. 

Roof-top, a room on a, 222. 

Rosario mine, 450. 

Ruined cities, of Yucatan, 38 ; character- 
istics of, 109; of Uxmal, 11 1 ; of north- 
ern coast of Yucatan, 146; groups of, in 
Mexico, 323 ; in Oaxaca, 531 ; of Mitla, 
531-542; mythical, of Sonora, 647. 

Sabinas valley, 584. 

Sacramento, hamlet, 608. 

Sacrificial Stone, 306; sculptures on the, 

307 ; history of the, 315. 
Sacrificial Collar, 320. 
Saga, hacienda of, 541. 
Sala del Muerte, 413. 
Salmsalm, Princess, 356. 
Salto del Agua, 359. 
Sagrario, el, 239. 



670 



INDEX. 



Salisbury, S., Jr., 109. 

Salomon, hamlet of, 520. 

Saltillo, 574. 

Sanctuary, 239 ; of the Cross, 164. 

Sarape, 545. 

San Angel, village, 360. 

San Antonio, city, 554, 575, 578. 

San Bias, port of, 428. 

San Cristobal, lake of, 241. 

San Fernando, cemetery of, 264. 

San Gertrudis mine, 448. 

San Hypolito, church of, 266. 

San Jose, Chihuahua, 606. 

San Juan de los Cues, 517. 

San Juan del Rio, 429. 

San Juan de Ulua, port of, 174. 

San Lazaro, 372. 

San Luis Potosi, city, 574. 

San Marcos, 218. 

San Miguel, hacienda of, 465. 

Santa Anna, hacienda of, 187 ; church of, 

262. 
Santa Cruz River, 646. 
Santa Eulalia mines, 618, 621. 
Santa Fe, town of, 363. 
Santa Rosalia, town and springs of, 624 
Sauz, hamlet of, 608. 
Savanas, 197. 
Saxony process, 468. 
School of Mines, 252. 
Sculptured stone, 411, 543. 
Scriptures in Mexico, 297. 
Seasons of Mexico, 244. 
Senoritas, of Yucatan, 52 ; their secluded 

lives, 57 ; the dark-eyed, 650. 
Sepulchres at Mitla, 542. 
Serenos, 286 

Serpent, the Feathered, 71 ; court of, 72. 
Sewers of Mexico City, 243. 
Shepherd, Ex-Governor, 618. 
Short, J. T. (note), 108. 
Sierra Mojada, 585. 
Sierra Madres of Sonora, 635. 
Siesta, the, 248. 
Silver train, a, 436; footpath, 461; states, 

467 ; mush, 467 ; slag of Chihuahua, 

609; mines of Chihuahua, 618, 619. 
" Skipping the border," 587. 
Smithsonian Institution, 164, 340. 
Snow-line of Popocatapetl, 386. 
Soap, abundance of, 584. 
Socabon (tunnel), 461. 



Society in Mexico, 304. 

Sombreros, 545. 

Sonora and Apache Country, 627 et seq. 

Sonora railway, 420, 653 ; river, 648. 

Southey, lines by, 398. 

Southern Pacific Railway, 578. 

Spurs, Mexican, 546. 

Squier, Mr. E. G., 170. 

Statue, discovered in Uxmal, 75; from 

Palenque, 168 ; from Copan, 169. 
Stephens, J. L., explorer, note on his 

travels, 71. - 
Stephens, Rev. J. L., murder of, 299. 
Stealing ore, 453. 
Streets of Mexico City, flooded, 247 ; 

principal, 253. 
Streets of the Dead, 482. 
Stucco ornaments, 162, 167. 
Sublevados, 42, 81, 104. 
Subterraneo of Mitla, 537; of Saga, 541. 
Sugar-cane, 405. 
Sulfataras, 393. 
" Sunset Route," 578, 595. 

Tabascan Princess, the, 158. 

Tabasco, river and province of, 157. 

Tablet of the Cross, 165. 

Tacuba, 269. 

Tacubaya, town of, 360. 

Tajo of Nochistongo, 242. 

Tamales, 215. 

Tampico, port of, 57. 

Tarahumares (Indians), 604. 

Tecalli, quarries of, 503. 

Techichi (dumb dog), 320. 

Techomavaca, hamlet of, 517. 

Tecpancaltzin, 477. 

Tehuacan, town of, 514, 546. 

Tehuan tepee, 173; railway, 421 ; road to, 

533- 

Telegraph lines, running, 586. 

Temixtitlan, 387. 

Temperature of Popocatapetl, at the snow- 
line, 383 ; of the crater, 396. 
Temprano (early), 139. 
Tender-foot in Arizona, a, 644. 
Tepetate(a stone), 354. 
Tepitoton, 319. 
Teponaztli, 319. 
Teocallis, 191, 227. 
Teotleco, 294. 
Teotitlan del Camino, 516; valley of, 543. 



INDEX. 



671 



Teotihuacan pyramids, 481. 

Teoxihuitl, 295. 

Teoyaomiqui, 314. 

Terra-cotta figure, 144. 

Terminos, Laguna of, 156. 

Terreros, Pedro, 416. 

Terrasus, Don Luis, 615. 

Teteoinan, 294. 

Tetepetongo, hill of, 379. 

Tezcoco, lake of, 237 ; city of, 486 ; pyra- 
mids of, 489, 490. 

Tezcatlipoca, 319. 

Texas, a ride across, 584 ; extreme west- 
ern, 592 ; Texas Pacific railway, 595. 

Tierra caliente, 196, 199, 217. 

Tierra fria, 19S, 217. 

Tierra templada, 197, 217. 

Tiger, Two-headed, 66. 

Timax, town of, 120-125. 

Tixpenal, village of, 88. 

Tixkokob, village of, 88. 

Theatre, National, 262, 263. 

Theories, regarding origin of ancient cities 
of Yucatan, 75 ; diverse, of antiqua- 
rians, no. 

Thieves, 283, 284 ; and murderers, 583. 

T'ho, Merida, 49. 

Times, The, (newspaper,) 595. 

Tlacolula, valley, 531 ; town, 533. 

Tlahuac, Aztec village, 337. 

Tlaloc, 294. 

Tlamacas, rancho of, 382. 

Tlalmanalco, ruins of, 490. 

Tlascala, town of, 492 et seq. 

Tobago, island, 407. 

Toltec, troubles of the, 341. 

Toltec Ruins and Pyramids, 469 et seq. ; 
view of, 471; sculptures, 476; nation, 
its extinction, 477. 

Toluca, Volcan de, 371 ; city and valley of, 
440. 

Tombstone, Arizona, 644. 

Topo Chico, hot springs of, 565. 

Toro, el, a native dance, 124; music of, 
128. 

Tortilla, method of preparation, 44 ; 

seller of (picture), 44. 
Tortillas and frijoles, 134. 
Tortillera, la, 138. 
Track, end of International, 586. 
Track-laying extraordinary, 585. 
Tramways of Mexico City, 235. 



Transcontinental profile, 195. 
Treasures, of the Church, 231 ; of the 

Aztecs, 321 ; buried, at Mitla, 537. 
Tropics, nights in the, 81 ; vegetation of 

the, 197. 
Trowbridge, Dr., 179. 
Tsilam (Dilam), port of, 127. 
Tucson, Arizona, 641, 644. 
Tula, town of, 94, 474; cathedral of, 475 ; 

ruins of, 476. 
Tula, valley of (view), 431. 
Tule (bulrush), town of, 533 ; great tree 

of. 533- 
Tulum, ruins of, 103, 147. 
Turkev Hunt, a Grand, 112 et seq. 
Turkey, the ocellated, 112, 150. 
Tutul Xius, the, 95. 
Tzintzuntzan, 441. 

Uayalceh, hacienda of, 61. 
Uipil, garment of Yucatan, 28, 118. 
Unexplored region, 167. 
Usumacinta River, 162, 170. 
Uxmal, ruins of, 58 et seq. 

Valenciana mine, 466. 

Valladolid, city of, 42, 104. 

Valley of Mexico, view of, 237 ; glance at 

the, 398. 
Valley, the triple, 523. 
Vamonos, 1 23. 
Vanilla, 190. 

Vase in Mexican Museum, 319. 
Vegetation, of tierra caliente, 197 ; of tierra 

templada, 197 ; of tierra fria, 198 ; limit 

of, 385- 

Vender of holy relics, 278. 

Venice of the western world, 333. 

Vera Cruz, city of, 173 et seq. ; engraving 
of, 175; yellow fever in, 178; State of, 
186; return of author to, 548. 

Viejo, el, 148. 

Villaldama, town, 561. 

Virgin, of Remedios, 270, 370 ; of Guada- 
lupe, 369. 

Volan, 61 ; journey in a, 112 ; figure of a, 

"3- 

Volante, 52, 56. 
Volcanero, el, 375. 

Volcano, Popocatapetl, 37 1 et seq. ; Ori- 
zaba, 117, 218, 371 ; Jorullo, 372. 



672 



INDEX. 



Volcanoes, principal Mexican, 395; from 
Mexican valley, 387. 

Vomito, 180; in Vera Cruz, 181 ; in Cor- 
dova, 548. 

Vultures of Vera Cruz, 177. 

Wages of Mexican miners, 454. 
Waldeck, explorer, 68. 
Ward, Mr., 343. 
Warrior, an Apache, 635. 
" Water wheat," 339. 
Water-works of Guaymas, 654. 
Willcox, Arizona, 629. 
Wines of Paso del Norte, 599. 
Wooden-wheel carts, 582, 583. 

Xaltocan, lake of, 241. 

Xibalba, 94. 

Xico, island of, 337. 

Xipe, 294. 

Xochicalco, hill and castle of, 408-412. 

Xochimilco, 237, 241, 335. 



Xochitl, Toltec princess, 341 ; hamlet of, 

409. 

Yaquis Indians, 653. 

Yucatan, approach to, 25 ; State and 
government of, 35 ; newspapers of, 35 ; 
cities, towns, etc., of, 38 ; conquest of, 
41 ; inhabitants of, 57 ; north coast of, 
127 et seq. ; railways of, 421; adieu to, 
549- 

Zaachila, town of, 529. 

Zapotec Indians, 520, 529 ; customs of, 

534 ; burial-places, 538 ; fortress, 542 ; 

battles, 543. 
Zela, Don Domingo, 375. 
Zocalo, el, 232. 
Zones, different, 195-198. 
Zopilote, a dance, 124 ; a vulture, 177. 
Zubiran, Don Juan, 615. 
Zumarraga, Bishop, 369. 
Zumpango, lake, 241. 



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